Royal Challengers Bengaluru batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik has backed Virat Kohli against Chennai Super Kings’ spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Noor Ahmad. RCB is all set to face CSK at the Chepauk Stadium, and Kohli will have his work cut out against the quality spin attack.

RCB has managed a solitary win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in nine matches they have played at the venue and their troubles against spin have been palpable.

Meanwhile, in the last five years, Kohli has failed to bring his best against the spinners. However, Karthik squashed any concerns regarding Kohli’s game against the spinners.

“He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket,” Karthik said on Thursday (March 27), the eve of the game. “So, I don’t want to go too deep into stats. I am not very aware. But if I remember, in the [T20] World Cup finals, he got runs where it mattered. And apart from that, in the Champions Trophy, he had a good tournament, second-highest run-getter [for India]. And that doesn’t come without playing on spin.

“So, I believe right now, he is batting as well as he has ever done. And you speak to him even today, just now as I came out… he wanted to work on one more shot. At this point of time, to work on one more shot, tells you the hunger that he has in his mindset. He wants to just improve and keep raising the bar. So, he is a special player. And at this point of time, the way I see it, he is batting as confidently and as well as he has ever done in IPL.”

In the opening game against KKR, Kohli scored 24 runs off 20 balls at Eden Gardens, Kolkata against the spinners. Kohli scored a crucial knock of 59 runs off 36 balls against the defending champions in the season’s opener.