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Former Indian pacer RP Singh has admitted that Virat Kohli’s poor run for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022 has been an unexpected nightmare not only for the batter but for his fans and Indian cricket as a whole.
Kohli has been dismissed for golden ducks in Bangalore’s last two IPL 2022 matches against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). His performance will thus be under the scanner when Bangalore take on the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Pune on Tuesday, according to the IPL timetable.
Previewing the match, Singh told Cricbuzz that Kohli’s poor form has been difficult to digest. He suggested that a change in the batting order might help the struggling batter. The 36-year-old said:
“He has raised the bar so high that we cannot digest the fact that he is not able to score a hundred. No one would have dreamt that Kohli would get out for golden ducks twice in a row. Something will have to change so that he can forget what happened in the last two games. He can come in and open, where he has done very well in the IPL.”
Kohli has 119 runs to his name from eight matches in IPL 2022 at an average of 17 and a strike rate of 122.68.
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“RCB need to forget that the previous match against SRH happened” - RP Singh
The entire Bangalore batting line-up, including Kohli, crumbled in their last game as they were bundled out for 68 by SRH. Batting first, Bangalore lost skipper Faf du Plessis, Kohli and Anuj Rawat in the second over of the match and could not stage a recovery.
According to Singh, the franchise must delete the match from their memory and move on. He opined:
“RCB need to forget that the previous match against SRH happened. If they think about it, they would get stuck mentally because lots of things that shouldn’t have happened took place in that game. They need to back their players and move on.”
Former India keeper-batter Parthiv Patel shared similar sentiments and pointed out that all champion sides over the years have had to endure such matches. He stated:
“RCB should think that the match came early for them in the tournament and forget it. If they analyze this, the burden will be very heavy. The experienced players in the team will know that there is nothing to analyze or discuss.”
RCB are currently fifth in the IPL standings with 10 points from eight games.
