'Kohli might look at Gill and think 'he's chasing me down the rails'': Vaughan's blistering take on strike rate debate
Simon Doull has now been joined by Michael Vaughan, who has now made a blistering remark on strike rate debate comparing Kohli with young Shubman Gill.
Despite the runs that Virat Kohli has been scoring in IPL 2023, with four half-centuries already in just six innings and being among the contenders for the Orange Cap this season, the former RCB captain has been criticised immensely for his slugglish striking post powerplay which veterans and experts feel has been the cause of the team's topsy turvy start to the season. Simon Doull was among the first to have pointed it out this season as he had launched a vicious attack on Kohli. The former New Zealand cricketer has now been joined by Michael Vaughan, who has now made a blistering remark comparing Kohli with young Shubman Gill.
In conversation with Cricbuzz on Saturday, ahead of the start of the match between Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, Vaughan launched an attack on KL Rahul, the skipper of LSG, who has had a strike rate of a tick above 100 in the powerplay this season.
Vaughan feels that while Rahul has been impressive in Tests and ODIs, he has his doubts about his T20 batting in this era of the sport where strike rate has been the key measure for batters rather than average. The former England captain rather said that he should look at the likes of Gill, who has been a fearless batter top of the order in T20s.
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“In Tests, he is a beautiful player. I have no doubts about him in ODIs. But in T20 cricket in this era I do have a doubt about him. I think he can take more risks. A lot of Indian players take a lot of balls to get in. But in modern cricket you almost got to go because now you have a batting line-up to almost 9 or 10 and in some cases even 11,” he said.
“Previously the target would be to get almost 50 in the first six and that would be a decent start but with the kind of cricket that is being played targeting 70 is not put of the realms. If I was part of the Indian team I would be looking at the likes of Shubman Gill, who is younger, fearless and can play aggressive cricket. If someone could have said to KL Rahul that all we want is to make that shift to at least fourth gear quicker.”
Vaughan then mentioned about Kohli, who tends to score at run-a-ball rate after the removal of fielding restrictions. And the former cricketer warned about the competition he is likely to face from young batters like Gill in the Indian line-up.
“People have been talking about Kohli's strike rate as well and has been targetting him because he is that good. He can easily pump up his strike rate. It's not criticism but it is giving him that belief to go on. If I was him I would have been looking at some of the youngers players like Gill and say, ‘wait a minute, they are chasing me down the rails’,” he explained.
