“He's had Virat coming in behind him" - Former Aussie skipper's huge statement on Rohit Sharma ahead of IPL 2025

Former Australian captain Aaron Finch backed Virat Kohli to continue his usual batting tempo instead of going on an all-out attack like Rohit Sharma in the upcoming IPL 2025 season. Rohit has transformed his batting style in white-ball cricket since 2022, preferring to take the aggressive route from ball one.

The move has led to much success, as Team India have reached the final of the last three ICC white-ball events, including winning the previous two—the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy. Meanwhile, Kohli batted more aggressively in the 2024 IPL season, finishing with his highest single-season strike rate of 154.69.

Yet, Finch believes team dynamics and the knowledge of Kohli coming in at No.3 helped Rohit bat aggressively for India - a luxury the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) doesn't enjoy.

In an interview with the PTI, Finch said (quoted by Hindustan Times):

"When you look, when Rohit's made that conscious decision, he's had Virat coming in behind him at number three. So there's an ability for him to say, you know what, I've got the guy behind that will fix any mistakes that I make. But you can't have everybody in the team just looking to swing for the fences from ball one. So that's a really, that's a good question. And I understand that Rohit's done that, and he's been very successful in doing it."

He added:

"Maybe if his (Kohli) strike rate goes from 140 to 150, he can absolutely do that. No issues whatsoever. But how many times has he been in a situation where he's had to almost dig RCB out of the hole because everybody else has fallen around him?"

Virat Kohli finished as the leading run-scorer in IPL 2024 with 741 runs at a stunning average of 61.75. His heroics helped RCB qualify for the playoffs with six consecutive wins to finish the league stage of the competition.

However, a loss to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator ended their 2024 campaign.

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"The consistency will go down" - Aaron Finch on Virat Kohli's batting

Aaron Finch warned RCB and their fans about how striving for a higher strike rate could lead to a drop in Virat Kohli's consistency. The 36-year-old is the IPL's all-time leading run-scorer with 8,004 runs, including eight centuries, in 252 outings.

Despite Kohli's incredible batting numbers over the years, RCB are still searching for their elusive IPL title.

"Well, the question you have to ask yourself is, do you want 700 or 800 runs or are you happy with 400? Because if you want Virat to strike higher, he can absolutely do that. But with that comes a higher risk and the consistency will go down," said Finch.

He concluded:

"So I don't think that there's a huge need to change. Maybe it's changing the tempo up slightly. But overall, I would bank on his runs every single day of the week. And then you start to build your team around somebody like that."

Kohli and RCB will begin their IPL 2025 campaign on opening day against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Kolkata on Saturday, March 22.