During the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI), former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan praised Virat Kohli’s aggressive batting against MI’s Jofra Archer on Sunday, April 2. The RCB captain’s unbeaten 82-run knock off 49 balls helped his team register an eight-wicket win against the five-time champions. When asked about Kohli’s approach against top bowlers, Pathan stated that great players like Sachin Tendulkar used to do the same, targeting big bowlers like Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne, and Kohli was doing the same thing.
“Great players do that. Sachin Tendulkar used to do that. He used to target the big bowlers in the opposition team, whether it was Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne, we have seen that repeatedly. Virat Kohli is also a player of the same stature. So he says that he will try to do even better when confronted with a challenge,”
Pathan said.
I was excited to watch the face-off between Jofra Archer and Virat Kohli: Irfan
Irfan Pathan also expressed his delight in witnessing the contest between Virat Kohli and Jofra Archer during the IPL 2023 match. Kohli had a stroke of luck early on, as Archer dropped a catch off his first delivery. Nevertheless, the former Indian all-rounder commented that Kohli was able to dominate Archer for the remainder of the game.
“I was personally excited to watch the face-off between Jofra Archer and Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli won that contest this time. There was a chance on the first ball but after that, he didn’t look behind. Only Jofra Archer was turning back as the ball was going beyond the boundary line,”
Irfan concluded.
The match between RCB and MI saw Faf du Plessis winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Mumbai Indians struggled in the powerplay, but Tilak Varma’s brilliant knock of 84 off 46 balls helped them reach a total of 171 runs. In response, RCB’s Kohli and Du Plessis played exceptional innings, and their team chased down the target comfortably, securing their first win in the tournament.
Follow us on Twitter for more!
