On the eve of the India-Pakistan Champions Trophy game played in Dubai, Virat Kohli surprised journalists by arriving at the ICC Academy 90 minutes before the scheduled time to practice in anonymity. The agenda on the menu was to practice against left-arm spin or spin in general. After a lengthy training workshop, he sat with his feet up and watched his teammates go about practicing for the rest of the session.
All those training workshops seemed to have helped Kohli to upskill his game against left-arm spin. His strike rate was 119.79 versus left-arm spin in the 2023 IPL. It improved to 131.19 in 2024. In the ongoing IPL, it stands at around 145 versus slow left-arm orthodox spin. Yes, he has employed the slog-sweep and chipped down the track to hit left-arm spinners down the ground. But one of the biggest changes in Kohli’s batting has been how he has tried to manufacture room in order to loft left-arm spinners via the cover region.
All his skills and wisdom of experience were again on display in the Delhi Capitals-Royal Challengers Bengaluru game played in Delhi. On a tricky surface, where enough deliveries were holding up, Kohli had to shelve a few of his shots.
The aim was to add runs in a diet of singles and twos. And keep an eye on essaying risk-free shots – There was one straight drive off Mitchell Starc and a couple of pull strokes when the length was clearly on the shorter side. Considering the prevailing conditions, Kohli had also decided that the best way to overhaul the target was to take the game deep. At the other end, Krunal Pandya, too, played his part too by turbo-charging the engine at the right time to end up with a 47-ball 73.
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Kohli shared his thoughts on how he goes about chasing down targets to the host broadcaster. “”The total on the board. What the conditions are like. Who are the bowlers that are due to bowl. Who are the bowlers that are going to be hard to get away. So, I try to make sure that my singles and doubles don’t stop. And then you keep getting the odd boundary in between. The game never gets stagnant. So, that’s always been my focus to keep working on rotating strikes, singles and doubles.
“People, I think, are forgetting the importance of stitching in a partnership or going deep into the innings in T20 cricket. And I think this year around, you’re seeing that you can’t just come out and tee off from ball one. You need to have professionalism, to read the situation and try and get into a position where you can start dominating the bowlers. And for that, you need to string in a partnership. And it won’t come easy on a slow pitch if you don’t know how to rotate the strike. So, yeah, that’s pretty much my method,” he added.
At the completion of that game, Kohli also got the chance to wear the Orange Cap. Remarkably, at the age of 36, he now has the chance to take home the Orange Cap for the third time. The mantra behind his success is simple – Pursuing greatness in the lonely world of practice arena. It is hot, cold or humid doesn’t matter. It is about an athlete testing his limits in order to upgrade himself by fractions and percentages. All his net sessions at the ICC Academy serves as a microcosm of the larger point.
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Early stutter, late flourish. Kohli and Krunal steer @RCBTweets to the top of the table with a gutsy chase! @TrishaGhosal writes #DCvRCB #PlayBold #IPL2025 https://t.co/7tBGOuGNZK
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) April 27, 2025