Virat Kohli is scoring runs but there is more to RCB than winning matches. cricket news

What could be more satisfying than Virat Kohli topping the list of highest run-scorers in IPL 2024? Well, winning the match is a good start but sadly for Royal Challengers Bangalore, that could not happen. Yes! Kohli is the current Orange Cap holder, having scored 379 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 150.39, including a brilliant century against Rajasthan Royals. Notably, his form has been crucial for India’s batting unit at ICC events over the past decade.

However, can a healthy average and a ton of runs be the true measure of Kohli’s contribution with the bat this IPL season? One should note that his team RCB has won only one match out of eight so far, leaving the team at the bottom of the IPL 2024 standings – a stark contrast to the player himself sitting atop the Orange Cap leaderboard.

As T20 cricket is evolving, so are the parameters of success. Gone are the days when a batsman’s contribution was assessed only by the number of runs scored. In today’s cricket scenario, the ability to play impressive innings at a reasonable strike rate has mainly helped batsmen win matches.

However, as a T20 batsman, Kohli has been a curiosity to the modern cricket world because of the way he analyzes the game and takes the responsibility of finishing the match for his team.

Let’s take a look at Kohli’s contribution to RCB’s wins over the years.

Kohli has played 245 IPL matches for RCB so far, scoring 7,642 runs at an average of 38.02. His mastery with the bat includes eight centuries and 52 half-centuries making him one of the greatest players of the IPL.

Apart from his IPL figures, Kohli has also played 15 Champions League matches for RCB, scoring 424 runs at a strike rate of 150.35. On the other hand, it is also worth mentioning that all these beautiful statistics never translated into mass success in terms of trophies for RCB.

Kohli is undoubtedly the poster boy of RCB in the IPL but cricket is a team game where 11 players have to contribute collectively to win a match. If we look at it, RCB is one of the most talked-about IPL franchises, but their performance since the inaugural campaign has not been up to expectations.

And while it is a bit unfair to put the blame for RCB’s lack of success entirely on Kohli, it is also undeniable that he has been the only stable player in the team since its inception in 2008.

The Bengaluru-based franchise has played a total of 249 IPL matches and has managed to win only 115 of them. Kohli’s contribution with the bat in RCB’s victory is 20% which is one-fifth of the team’s total effort. Is this enough to label Kohli a ‘match winner’ for RCB?

Despite struggling as a team, RCB have always had the support of King Kohli, but this may be hurting them.

Is Kohli playing old-fashioned cricket?

The dynamics of T20 have changed significantly over the years with batsmen becoming more aggressive, keeping that in mind IPL 2024 has seen some record-breaking team scores this year – SRH’s 287 vs RCB, SRH’s 277 vs MI, KKR’s 272 vs DC, SRH’s 266 vs DC.

The fast-paced batting of SRH and KKR has changed the story of run-scoring in IPL 2024. The record of 263 runs set by Kohli’s RCB in 2013, courtesy Chris Gayle’s mammoth 175*, has been broken four times in the explosive IPL. The 2024 season has become the new normal with such totals.

Meanwhile, Kohli has scored more than 50 three times in IPL 2024 for RCB and surprisingly, the team has lost two out of three games.

Batting first in both the fixtures, Kohli’s unbeaten innings (83 and 113) took RCB to reasonable totals of 182/6 and 183/3 against Kolkata and Rajasthan respectively. His strike rate in these matches was 140.67 and 156.94.

Yet despite their strike rate being in doubt, the first innings score in both the fixtures was not safe as RCB bowlers failed to defend the target on a batting-friendly track. Kohli’s match-deciding innings did not receive strong support from the other batsmen, leading to the team’s plight.

In reality, even the target of 220 runs this year is not safe enough to defend. T20 cricket has become more batsman-centric and demands a more holistic approach from batsmen where a healthy strike rate cannot be ignored.

While Kohli has taken over RCB’s struggling batting unit and has tried his best to bat till the 20th over this season, his innings have not been able to lead his team to victory. His strike rate this season is 150.39, which is much higher than his overall IPL strike rate of 130.63, which is a positive thing.

With only six matches left this year, it will be interesting to see whether RCB still manages to qualify for the IPL playoffs. However, for that to happen, Kohli will have to recognize the fact that his contribution to any team in T20 these days has to go beyond run accumulation and good averages.

We no longer live in a time where the number of runs and average of a player provide us with an indicator of the player’s importance and contribution to the team’s success in the T20 format.

The metric that leaves everyone else behind these days is strike rate and perhaps this is where Kohli may be lacking a bit. Let us not forget that his century off 67 balls against Rajasthan Royals this season was the slowest in the history of the Indian Premier League, which is definitely something to think about.