Gavaskar schools Kohli on-air for his explosive strike-rate rant: 'Why reply if you don't care about outside noise'

Virat Kohli may be among the top run-getters in the ongoing IPL 2024, but his strike rate, majorly against spin, has been a major concern yet again as Royal Challengers Bengaluru aim to keep their playoff hopes alive while the India star builds towards the T20 World Cup in June. However, after carving out a brilliant 70 not out off 44 balls against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad last week, where he scored 61 runs at a strike rate of 179 against the spinners, his third-best scoring rate against the variety in a T20 innings (at least 20 balls against spinner), Kohli hit out at his critics in an explosive rant. On Saturday, as RCB hosted GT for the second leg of the IPL 2024 clash, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar fumed on air over Kohli's act.

Kohli's comments did not go down well with Gavaskar, who lashed out at the former RCB captain before the start of the match against GT at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, saying that the commentators only criticised him when he would get out before the slog overs after registering a strike rate of below 120.

"Commentators questioned only when the strike rate was 118. I'm not too sure. I don't watch too many matches, so I don't know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you have a strike of 118 and then you get out in the 14th or the 15th with a strike-rate of 118, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different. That's different," said Gavaskar.

The legendary batter also lambasted Kohli for his hypocrisy in responding to critics after saying that he could care less about the outside noise. Gavaskar further added that that the commentators don't work with hidden agendas and are just doing their job.

"All these guys talk about, oh we don't care about outside noise. Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don't necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening," said Gavaskar.