"Look, It Was A Slow Start": Irfan Pathan On Virat Kohli's Knock After His Fiery Rant

There has been a lot of conversation over Virat Kohli's strike rate despite the fact that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru star batter is the top run-scorer in the IPL 2024 right now. While Kohli has scored consistently for his franchise in this year's competition, both fans and some experts have questioned his approach and the rate at which he scores runs after the powerplay. Kohli delivered a fiery rant on the criticism following yet another half-century during his team's over Gujarat Titans on Sunday and former India cricketer Irfan Pathan believes that the talk over his strike rate has been 'disappointing'.

"I don't understand where all the talks of strike rate comes in. It actually disappoints me. I've been actually talking about it from day one. Don't question that because he's a big-match player. He always wins you games. And today look what he did. Look, it was a slow start. He played down the ground really well. He played the slog sweep really well as well. And this shot sweep shot. He doesn't play that much, but he played all around today, and that is why he's able to get that success," Pathan said on Star Sports.

Pathan also said that Kohli's fine run of form in IPL 2024 is great news for India ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024 and critics need to take the average into account and not just concentrate on the strike rate.

"It's good news for Virat Kohli, good news for RCB, but in long term, great news for Team India because you know a lot of chatter has been there around for Virat Kohli's strike rate and his form. You have to just make it strike-rate plus average. He's got an orange cap on his hand, 500 runs, outstanding," he added.