'Jinko Cricket Ka C Pata Hoga Vo...': Virat Kohli's Childhood Coach Thrashes 'Agenda Driven' Critics

Virat Kohli is the leading run-getter of IPL 2024 thus far, is the only batter to have breached the 300-run mark, first centurion of the season yet his performance for Royal Challengers Bengaluru are dividing opinions.

Why? Because, apparently, Kohli isn’t scoring quick enough which, in part, is being blamed for RCB’s poor show this season. With just one win from five attempts, RCB find themselves at the ninth spot on the points table, just a rung ahead of Mumbai Indians.

Kohli recently scored a fine century but it came off 67 deliveries which is the joint-slowest hundred in the history of IPL. Those defending Kohli argue that the slowness of his approach was to make sure he bats through since he didn’t get enough support from the other end.

Now, Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has jumped to his defense, tearing into the critics of the batting superstar, questioning their cricket knowledge.

“Is tarah ki jo baate karte hai, mujhe doubt hai unki cricket knowledge ki. Doosri side se wicket gir rahe hai still vo maintain kar rahe hai 130-135 ki strike-rate. Jinko Cricket ka C pata hoga vo is tarah ki baate nahi karega. Ye log vohi log hai jinhe charcha mein rehna hai. Jab tak vo bolege nahi aur bolege kis ke liye. Jab Tak Virat Kohli ke liye bolege. Aur kisi ke liye bolege toh news nhi banegi (I doubt the cricket knowledge of those making such arguments. Wickets were falling from one end still he (Kohli) maintained strike-rate of 130-135. People who understand cricket won’t talk like this. These are the same people who just want to stay in the limelight. Unless they speak about Virat Kohli, it doesn’t become a news.),” Sharma said on India News.

Sharing the clip of the show on his Instagram account, Sharma termed the criticism of Kohli as ‘agenda’.

“Agenda as they call it, he knows how and when to perform,” he wrote.

Batting legend Brian Lare has also backed Kohli, arguing that an opener can score at a strike-rate of 130-140 but same is not true for someone who is batting in the middle-order.

“The strike-rate depends on position, and for an opener strike-rate of 130-140 is pretty alright. But if you are coming in the middle-order then you may be required to hit at 150 or 160. As you have seen in this IPL, batsmen are hitting at 200 in the latter part of an innings. But an opener like Kohli always has the chance of starting at 130, bat through the overs and finish at 160 or even higher, which is all right,” Lara said on Star Sports.