NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar advised Virat Kohli to play a in slightly conservative approach on hard wickets in New York ahead of India's ICC T20 World Cup match against the USA.
At the Nassau County International Stadium on Wednesday, the third Group A match of the T20 World Cup between India and the USA will take place. India had won a low-scoring thriller over Pakistan by six runs in their previous encounter.
T20 WORLD CUP:
The United States of America defeated Pakistan in the Super Over. With four points from two wins in two games, India lead the group. With the identical win-loss record, the USA is in second position, though their net run rate is inferior.
With scores of just one and four runs against Ireland and Pakistan, Virat - the greatest run scorer in the history of the competition - hasn't had the finest start to the competition. He was dismissed both times while playing aggressively.
Virat enters the competition following an incredible Indian Premier League (2024) season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he amassed 741 runs at 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69 in 15 innings, including five hundreds and a century. Virat had the best strike rate of his IPL career and was quite effective against spinners, using a more aggressive strategy against them.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar stated that although Virat has adjusted his style in response to criticism regarding his supposedly low strikeout rate, the "old Virat" would have performed better on New York's hard pitches, where it has been difficult to score runs and batters have played cautiously.
"The problem with Virat Kohli is that there has been a lot of talk about his strike rate over the last two years, and he completely changed that during this IPL season. His strike rate had reached 150, although others had almost 200, but that is a different topic. He probably must have come to the T20 World Cup with that same mindset, but given the pitches, the old Virat Kohli would have been much better," said Manjrekar.
"So, I feel someone should tell him to bring back that earlier version of himself and then change again when the pitches become flat," he added.
(With ANI inputs)
