IPL 2023: Cricket has moved on from Virat Kohli batting template, says Tom Moody

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody said that cricket has moved on from Royal Challengers Bangalore star batter Virat Kohlis template of batting and players are scoring with 150+ strike rate because of batting depth in their sides.

Opening the batting for RCB, Virat scored 55 off 46. He and Mahipal Lamror (54 of just 29 balls) built a 56-run partnership for the third wicket and RCB posted 181 runs on the board against the Delhi Capitals on Saturday night at the Arun Jaitley stadium, here.

In reply, Phillip Salt’s mega 87-run knock (45b, 8x4, 6x6) helped Delhi Capitals chase the target and keep themselves alive in the IPL 2023.

“Will always have this debate because it is the Virat Kohli template. It’s the way he bats. His career strike rate is around 130. His ability to continue to churn out runs is quite extraordinary,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo.

“But maybe he also felt that whilst the other end was flying along, his role was to feed that other end. But in my view, particularly with the impact player, the game has really moved on from that style of cricket. That’s why we are seeing so many totals go to 200+. There is no such role.

We all need to be going here at 150+ without a doubt because we have the comfort of depth. But did they get as many as they could have? If he took his foot a little off the brake and went with Lomror, and tried to target a boundary an over himself, we will never know,” he added.

After their loss against Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore remain fifth in the points table with five wins from ten matches so far.