IPL 2024: Sunil Gavaskar Calls Out Virat Kohli: ‘Why Answer Outside Noise if You Don’t Care?’

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Original Content: IPL 2024: Sunil Gavaskar Calls Out Virat Kohli: ‘Why Answer Outside Noise if You Don’t Care?’

Former Indian cricket star Sunil Gavaskar has condemned Virat Kohli’s criticism of commentators for questioning his strike rate in the ongoing IPL 2024 season, stating that they are just doing their job.

Kohli holds the second spot for most runs in IPL 2024, amassing 500 runs, which includes one hundred and four half-centuries from 10 innings. Ruturaj Gaikwad has recently overtaken him for the Orange Cap.

However, Virat Kohli’s strike rate has been a concern for many ex-cricketers, especially in situations when batting first. His century against Rajasthan Royals off 67 deliveries, which is the joint slowest in the IPL history.

Last week, Kohli smashed 70 runs off 44 balls, leading RCB to a dominant nine-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans. He then fired back at critics, saying those in the commentary box don’t understand the game like he does.

“All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff (his low strike-rate). For me, it’s about winning the games for the team and there’s a reason why you’ve done it for 15 years, you’ve done this day in and day out, you’ve won games for your teams, I’m not quite sure that if you haven’t been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game from the box,” Kohli said in the post-match conference.

Why React to Outside Noise If You Ignore It? – Sunil Gavaskar

Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar, famous for his no-nonsense attitude, mentioned that Virat Kohli is being questioned about his strike rate over and over again because of his on-field behaviour.

“Commentators questioned only when the strike rate was 118. I’m not too sure. I don’t watch too many matches, so I don’t know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you have a strike rate of 118 and then you get out in the 14th or the 15th over with a strike-rate of 118, I mean, if you want applause for that, that’s a little bit different. That’s different,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports before the RCB versus GT clash in Bengaluru.

Gavaskar also questioned Kohli on why he was reacting to outside criticism if he claims not to pay attention to it. He added that they all have played cricket too, and they only speak the truth without any hidden agenda.

“When you talk about all these guys talk about, oh we don’t care about outside noise, acha. Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don’t have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don’t necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening,” he added.

In the midst of all the discussions about his strike rate, Virat Kohli has been included in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad. India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have both stated that there are no issues regarding Kohli’s strike rate, and he is playing well in the IPL 2024.