IPL 2021: "I couldn't understand that" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat Kohli slowing down his innings against CSK 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli slowed down as he neared the 50-run mark during their defeat to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) "for no apparent reason," former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said on Friday.

Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal gave RCB a strong start after being put in to bat, but after reaching 40 off 26 deliveries, Kohli added his next 13 runs in 15 balls.

Manjrekar praised Kohli's intent in the powerplay but raised questions about why he slowed down after getting to the 40-run mark.

"I thought there was a different Virat Kohli batting today. He was stepping out to the fast bowlers. He was really batting like a T20 opener, throwing caution to the wind and going down the pitch and stuff that he doesn’t do that much. And come to 40, he drastically slowed down. I couldn’t understand that," Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

Wonder whether Kohli got caught up trying to score a half-century: Manjrekar

Kohli scored his first 40 runs at a strike rate of 153.84, but it dropped to 86.66 after that. Manjrekar feels the pressure around his decision to step down as India's T20 International (T20I) captain after the T20 World Cup and as RCB skipper after IPL 2021 affected him. He added:

"Clearly, when he got close to 50, he slowed down. And I just wonder, the time that he is going through with all the decisions he has taken around T20 cricket and with the runs not coming in, whether he got a bit caught up in that thing about getting to 50, because it’s a huge nosedive from 153 to 86 when there is no apparent reason."

RCB were 111/1 when Kohli departed after 13.2 overs, and after a mini-collapse, they managed to post 156/6.

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Ruturaj Gaikwad top-scored for CSK as they chased down the target with six wickets and 11 balls to spare to go top of the IPL 2021 points table.