Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody feels Virat Kohli will need the support of other RCB players to take the franchise to their maiden Indian Premier League title as he can not take the team to glory all by himself. Virat Kohli scored 639 runs for the franchise in 14 matches in the previous season but the team failed to qualify for the playoffs as they finished in sixth place with seven wins and as many losses.
Kohli is the leading run-getter in the IPL history with 7263 runs in 237 matches at an average of 37.25 and a strike rate of 130.02. The talisman has been associated with the Bengaluru-based franchise since the inception of the IPL and has performed consistently for the team over the years.
RCB has made it to the final of the IPL on three occasions but has failed to get over the last hurdle.
“Virat Kohli – you would never question his quality and class, and there is no doubt he is going to be in the leading run scorers’ list in this IPL. But it’s going to take more than Virat Kohli for RCB to lift the trophy,” Tom Moody said on Star Sports show Game Plan.
Moody wants RCB to come up with a collective effort to register their maiden IPL triumph.
“He needs a collective effort at RCB for them to be champions this year. It’s not just going to be down to one person and his ability to score hundreds and hundreds of runs,” Moody stated.
On the other hand, Moody reckons his concern for RCB is their bowling. The former lanky player feels if RCB bowlers can restrict the opposition and take wickets at the right time then they will be in contention to go all the way.
“It’s always good to have quality players like the ones of Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green – all box-office players.”
“My concern is not RCB scoring runs, it’s RCB restricting the opposition from scoring runs, them having the ability to shut teams down and to take wickets in key moments,” the former SunRisers Hyderabad head coach added.
RCB will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against defending champions CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on March 22.
