Virat Kohli, a renowned cricket player for India, has said that he is currently at the pinnacle of his T20 form and that he is playing the best cricket of his career. This declaration comes in advance of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in 2019.
Kohli finished as the leading run scorer at the most recent edition of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia when he accumulated an eye-catching 296 runs for his country at a Bradman-esque average of 98.66 and a strike rate greater than 136. However, it was expected that Kohli would face greater competition from India’s bevy of young batters in the lead-up to next year’s event in the Caribbean and the United States.
However, based on his recent performances in the Indian Premier League, the 34-year-old does not appear to be slowing down at all. Furthermore, he has shown every indication that he intends to continue playing 20-over cricket for his nation.
The champion right-hander has produced 639 runs since opening the batting position for Royal Challengers Bangalore throughout 14 matches. His most recent contribution was an undefeated 101 from only 61 balls, although his team was eliminated from the playoffs race by Gujarat Titans.
When questioned by former India coach Ravi Shastri at the finish of his innings, Kohli said that he is back playing his best cricket and that this was his second consecutive century for his IPL side.
“Ya, I felt wonderful. There are a lot of people who believe that my performance in Twenty20 cricket is deteriorating, but I don’t feel like that at all,” Kohli added.
“I feel like I’m playing some of the finest Twenty20 cricket of my career again. I’m not trying to do anything special; this is just how I play Twenty20 cricket. I try to close gaps, break a number of barriers, and then finish strong by closing the large ones if the circumstances let it.
“Strike rates, all those kinds of things, like I said in the past as well…you have to read the situation and rise to the occasion when the situation demands, and that’s something I take a lot of pride in doing, and I’ve been doing it for a while now,” he added. I’m pretty happy with how my game is going right now, especially with how I’m hitting out there in the middle.”
Faf du Plessis, a batter from South Africa, has also been in fine shape for Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. Du Plessis has scored 730 runs, making him the tournament’s best run scorer to this point. Kohli has not been the only veteran campaigner doing well at the top of the order for Royal Challengers Bangalore this season.
While playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis combined for a total of 939 runs over the course of 14 innings. This score was equal to the record for most runs scored by a pair in a Twenty20 competition that had been achieved by Kohli and AB de Villiers in the previous season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2016.
Du Plessis was effusive in his appreciation for Kohli and is of the opinion that his fellow opening batsman still has plenty to contribute to the shortest version of the game.
“He (Kohli) has played really good cricket throughout the entire season,” du Plessis said. “He’s been our best player.”
It simply goes to show you that Virat has a lot more left in the tank when it comes to Twenty20 cricket since he is still playing pretty well.