Sunil Gavaskar says Virat Kohli needs to look at himself in the mirror after the defeat to Kings XI Punjab

Cometh the hour; cometh the man? The Royal Challengers Bangalore fans would have hoped that their skipper Virat Kohli could have finished the match against the Kings XI Punjab and could have relieved the proverb, but not quite so. It was not the RCB team that we have witnessed over the past nine seasons.

The tenth edition of the Indian Premier League has not had the Challengers in the best of forms; with only 2 wins in their 12 matches thus far. The side from Bangalore is on a five-match losing streak and the skipper has been unable to rescue the side from the major batting collapse, scoring above 20 only once in the last five games.

His elegant stroke-making and running between the wickets have been something that the Royal Challengers Bangalore have missed throughout the tenth season of the IPL. The 28-year-old failed to find the form yet again in a low-scoring run chase against the Punjab, as his team slumped to a 19-run loss at home.

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar is certainly not pleased with the way Virat has been performing with the bat, criticising the latter’s shot selection.

“First thing he should be doing is look himself in the mirror. The shot he played (against KXIP) wasn’t exactly a great shot. The shot he played at Eden Gardens (against KKR) wasn’t a great shot,” Gavaskar said in the post-match analysis of the RCB-KXIP match for the official broadcaster.

Against the Kings XI Punjab, the skipper charged down the track only to miss a swinging delivery from Sandeep Sharma which went on to hit the timber. Against KKR, he got out on the very first ball edging one to the slip in another low-scoring game at the Eden Gardens.

“He (Kohli) has got to say to himself that he is the captain. He has got to stay there. He is not in form so stay there and he should work himself with proper cricketing shots then widen the scope of the shots,” Gavaskar said. The opener went on to criticise the other batsman devoid of Chris Gayle for their poor shot selection in a low-scoring game at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

“Apart from (Chris) Gayle, who was deceived by late movement, Virat (Kohli) went for that big six shot, AB de Villiers went for that big six shot, Mandeep Singh, having settled down, went for the big shot. So, there you are,” he said.

“Your main batsmen went for the glamour shots instead of looking to play proper cricketing shots. Get the boundary. Between a four and a six the difference is two runs. Because you hit the ball in the air (for six), the risk percentage goes up to a 100.” Concluded an angry-sounding Gavaskar.