Although Virat Kohli has good records against Chennai Super Kings in IPL, the RCB batter is yet to ignite when it comes to Chepauk.
Chennai: Virat Kohli is way ahead from the rest in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with 7263 runs from 237 matches with seven hundreds at a strike rate of 130. But when it comes to MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the former RCB captain’s average dips at 30 and a strike rate of 111. Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh opined Kohli will have to be at his absolute best when the three-time finalists take on Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024 opener on March 22 at Chepauk.
Known as ‘King Kohli’, for his stellar run with the bat, the former India captain has been a nightmare for every bowler in the competition for the past 16 years. The upcoming edition will be no different. At Chepauk, which has been tricky for batters, Harbhajan opined, Kohli has to be at the top of his game.
“The greatness of Virat has been reduced in terms of his overall performance at that venue. It is a tricky venue to bat, especially as an opening batsman against a sort of weird tennis ball type bounce. They’ve (CSK) got the great (Ravindra) Jadeja bowling stump to stump. He’ll get the oddball to turn and then the oddball to stay low. It’s really tricky,” Harbhajan told Star Sports.
For the unknown, Kohli was dismissed thrice in the Powerplay in his last five innings against CSK, and Harbhajan said the star batter will have to find a way to bat longer. “If he’s actually prepared to bat about 20 overs, then he can put together a match-winning performance because two hundreds at the accessible Chinnaswamy do not necessarily guarantee the same at Chepauk,” he said.
For the record, Kohli is just 15 runs short of 1000 runs against Chennai Super Kings from 30 matches with a highest of 90. A former CSK player himself, Harbhajan believes Kohli needs to rekindle his 2016 form if RCB wants to have a crack at the coveted title.
“It’s important for him to have a season like 2016, because if Virat goes on to score runs, the team will go forward. I don’t know if they will go on to win the cup or not. But with the brilliant individuals they have in their team—Virat, (Glenn) Maxwell, (Cameron) Green, and a few more like Patidar— I believe they have a lot of good batting. and everyone wants Virat to have a repeat of 2016,” he added.
In 2016, Kohli made 973 runs from 16 matches with four hundreds and seven fifties, still the highest run-aggregate in an IPL season. RCB lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final that year.