Virat Kohli didn’t quite match his high standards with the bat, reckons Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckons that Virat Kohli didn’t quite live up to the standards he has set over the years. On Friday, Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were eliminated from the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat them by six wickets in the Eliminator at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

From the personal front, Virat was the leading run-scorer for his team in the tournament with 466 runs at an average of 42.36. In the last game, he also opened the batting but was caught down the leg-side, cheaply, off Jason Holder. Gavaskar said that RCB weren’t able to get the big scores as Virat, who has been a prolific run-scorer for them, didn’t fire.

RCB’s bowling has always been their weak point, says Gavaskar

“Looking at the high standards that he sets for himself, maybe he would say he didn’t quite match that and that’s one of the reasons why RCB weren’t able to go through. Because when he scores those big runs along with AB de Villiers, they invariably have big scores,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

Gavaskar said that RCB have always been a batting-heavy team with their bowlers mostly faltering at the big stage. The veteran also asked the team to assign a proper role to Shivam Dube, who he reckons, is ‘confused’ about his position in the side.

“If anything, their bowling has always been their weak point. Even now, in this particular team, they have got an Aaron Finch, who is a fine T20 player, young Devdutt Padikkal, who began well and then Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, then you have really got it made,” he stated.

“I think where they need to do a little bit of thinking is to give Shivam Dube a proper role. Dube has gone down and Sundar has gone up and down. If he can be given a role and told to go out there and thrash the ball, it might help him. He is confused now,” Gavaskar added.

The Challengers started their campaign, beating SRH in Dubai. From there on, they strained a bit, but finished fourth in the table and made the playoffs. To their dismay, they have to wait for 2021 to have another crack at the IPL trophy.