IPL: Virat Kohli's batting position will play important role for RCB: Daniel Vettori

Indian Premier League 2022 is knocking at the door and the discussion regarding the batting position of Virat Kohli has generated talking points for the experts and cricket fans. Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain and coach, Daniel Vettori's  statement regarding the batting position of Virat Kohli. Vettori believes that Virat Kohli plays the best when he opens the match for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The debate surrounding Kohli’s batting position is up again for 2022  season since the advent of Faf du Plessis in Royal Challengers Bangalore in this season of the Indian Premier League. Faf du Plessis is the new captain for Royal Challengers Bangalore and is well accepted by fans and players alike. Plessis is also a commendable batsman to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore line up and this is the key reason for emphasizing upon effective utilization of Virat Kohli as a batsman for the team.

In the previous season of the Indian Premier League, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal were the opening players for the team. Their batting style seemed to complement each other. Last season the duo managed to deliver 181 runs of partnership against Rajasthan Royals. On the other side, Faf du Plessis during his tenure in Chennai Super Kings proved to be a menace as an opening order batsman. However, Daniel Vettori emphasizes that Kohli should be opening for Royal Challengers Bangalore this season as well as this suits the best play style for Kohli, in his opinion.

Daniel Vettori in an interview mentioned that the batting position of Virat Kohli is the talk of the town in the initial stages of the Indian Premier League season. Virat opening for Royal Challengers Bangalore seems to be the optimum choice. Vettori opines that the other person is mostly irrelevant for Kohli when he opens up. Virat churns out the best of performance when he is allowed the space to define his stroke and strategize his play style over the first couple of overs.

Daniel Vettori captained Royal Challengers Bangalore from Indian Premier League 2014 to 2018 and observed the players over time. He believes that Virat Kohli is the kind of batsman who exhibits the best of his performance when taking the lead in the first overs, as it allows him to settle in the middle order of the match. Vettori noted the Kohli synchronizes with the other players for the team effectively as the match goes on.  and that the team benefited and delivered effective results every time Kohli came on the crease in the top order.

Vettori further stated upon the performance of Virat Kohli, that he is the player who delivers performance no matter where he is positioned. Virat Kohli is the kind of player who delivers up front and Royal Challengers Bangalore displayed efficiency every time Kohli opened the batting line-up for the team. Virat Kohli will not be the skipper for the team this season. He left the position up for grabs, after IPL 2021.  The team will face Punjab Kings on March 27.