Contrary to most veteran cricketers and experts backing Virat Kohli amid the criticism over his strike rate in his unbeaten knock of 113 against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, India legend Virender Sehwag minced no words as he reckoned that the former RCB skipper did err on playing a sluggish knock. However, Sehwag, along with Mohammed Shami, also fumed at the rest of the RCB batters for not stepping up and supporting Kohli in his act.

Put to bat first against the Royals, RCB got off to a promising start with openers Kohli and Faf du Plessis weaving a 125-run stand. But a the home team grabbed momentum with quick wickets through the middle overs, leaving Kohli with no support on a track where the spinners dominated, having capitalised from the low bounce and slow pitch.

Kohli waged a lone battle against the RR attack, and became the first centurion of IPL 2024. However, his 67-ball feat was the joint-slowest ton in IPL history.

Speaking to Cricbuzz after RCB finished with 183 for three in Jaipur, Sehwag reckoned that the visitors were at least 20 runs short of a challenging total before he highlighted that Kohli did err on not improving his strike rate after reaching the fifty-run mark in 39 balls.

“I felt RCB scored about 20 runs less. About Virat Kohli, his knock was great, but there was nobody to support him. Karthik did not come...so there were no big hitters to accompany him and those who came did not to work. Yes Kohli's strike rate should have definitely increased because when you score 50 in 39 balls, then you tend to score at a quicker rate thereafter. The strike rate automatically then almost touches 200. He made a mistake there for sure,” he said.

However, the former India opener also pointed out that Kohli remained under pressure throughout his knock amid no support from batters at the other end as he lashed out at Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell, who have had forgettable start to IPL 2024 so far.

“But then rest of the batters did not do anything. The entire pressure was on Kohli. Moreover, it is his role to hold one end of the crease and allow batters to on the other end to flourish, on whom RCB spent so much to acquire them - Maxwell, Green,” he added.

Veteran India bowler Shami, who was part of the panel, spoke on similar lines saying that RCB cannot always depend on Kohli to get them past the victory line.

“Kohli has always performed, whether for the Indian team or RCB. But how can RCB put the entire burden on Kohli's shoulders? The rest of the batters need to step up,” said the Gujarat Titans bowler, who is not part of IPL 2024 owing to his recovering from ankle surgery.

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