Courtesy: RCB/BCCI/IPL
Dinesh Karthik, the former Indian cricketer, who is the batting coach and mentor of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has backed stalwart Virat Kohli to combat the challenge of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spin trio during their upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash. At the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, known for providing assistance to the spinners, the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Noor Ahmad of CSK could prove to be a handful for the RCB batting lineup, especially after they bowled exceedingly well against Mumbai Indians (MI) a few days ago.
Notably, in the opening match of the IPL 2025 for CSK, Noor Ahmad broke the back of MI batting lineup with four wickets, while the experienced due of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja put a lid on the scoring, with the former also taking a wicket on his return to the franchise. Meanwhile, on the other side, Virat Kohli of RCB, who has had his issues in terms of taking down the spinners consistently over the years, striking it at just over 100 runs in that many balls, rectified the situation by increasing his strike-rate to 137.08 in the last season of the IPL.
He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket: Karthik on Kohli
Dinesh Karthik alluded to the recent evolution in Virat Kohli’s game against the spinners ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 match by saying, as per Cricbuzz, “He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket.. 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.”
Following that, he also revealed how Kohli wanted to work on one more shot before taking on the CSK spin trio in Chepauk, where RCB haven’t won in the IPL since the inaugural season in 2008. Karthik remarked, “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,” Dinesh Karthik added.
