‘Patidar is looking to be overly-aggressive… Once Virat gets in…’: Aaron Finch dissects RCB’s Kohli-centric batting plan

RCB maintained their form in the ongoing IPL 2025 season with an 11-run win against RR, on Thursday in Bengaluru. The match also saw Virat Kohli keep up the pressure on Orange Cap leader Sai Sudharsan. Kohli is now second in the Orange Cap race, with 392 runs in nine matches.

On Thursday, Kohli was once again at his brilliant best, and smacked 70 runs off 42 balls, as RCB posted 205/5 in 20 overs. He also clattered eight fours and two sixes, building on his aggressive and consistent T20 template for this season.

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Aaron Finch hails Virat Kohli

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Kohli’s former RCB teammate Aaron Finch was asked if the former India captain’s captaincy was underrated by many fans and experts. Finch had a straightforward reply, and pointed out that Kohli’s consistency was one of the key weapons for RCB.

“Yes, I mean, if you are offered 650, 700 runs at the start of the year, from one of your top-three batters. No matter whether your strike rate is 150 or 200, you would take that every single day because that just allows your team the platform to play around,” he said.

“That’s when you can put some cowboys in the middle order, ultra-high risk, and they tried to do that with Livingstone, and it hasn't quite worked. Last year, Maxwell played that high risk game as well, and Patidar is looking to be overly-aggressive as well. So it just allows you a platform, you know, once Virat gets in, very rarely does he get out at 30. So he goes deeper, play aggressively around him and build around that,” he added.

Kohli’s form has been vital for RCB this season, who are currently third in the IPL 2025 points table with 12 points in nine games, which includes six wins and three defeats. In their next fixture, RCB face DC on Sunday, in New Delhi.