Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has predicted that Virat Kohli will finish as the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s highest run-getter in the upcoming season of the Tata Indian Premier League. Kohli has been in fine form in the recent past and he would want to carry the same form in the IPL for RCB.
In fact, Kohli had failed to deliver the goods in the previous season and he would want to turn the tables in the upcoming edition. The talisman had scored 341 runs in 16 matches in IPL 2022 at a below-par average of 22.73 and a strike rate of 115.98.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter in the history of the IPL, amassing 6624 runs in 223 matches at an average of 36.2 and a strike rate of 129.15. Kohli has performed consistently for RCB over the years and he has been their best batter.
“Who will be the highest run-scorer for this team – Faf or Virat Kohli? I am going to go with Virat Kohli. Virat didn’t score runs last year. It cannot happen every year, so he will score runs and then the team will look slightly stronger.”
“They have a very good captain in the form of Faf du Plessis. If we talk about the batting, Virat Kohli comes to open along with Faf du Plessis. They might not have a place for Anuj Rawat and then Rajat Patidar at No. 3, he has performed very well,” said Chopra on AkashVani on Jio Cinema.
The renowned commentator believes RCB have a formidable batting line-up and they will want to come up with a good show.
“After that, they play Glenn Maxwell. Then they gave chances to Mahipal Lomror and Shahbaz Ahmed, and then comes Dinesh Karthik, who performs the finisher’s role. The batting looks alright.”
Meanwhile, RCB has replaced injured Will Jacks with Michael Bracewell, who is known for his batting pyrotechnics in the shortest format of the game.
“Will Jacks went out and Michael Bracewell came in. Michael Bracewell is a gun player – understands the pulse of T20 cricket, a wonderful striker of the cricket ball although his bowling might work limitedly, especially at the Chinnaswamy,” said Chopra.
RCB will begin their IPL 2023 campaign against Mumbai Indians at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on 2nd April.
