Recently, Vikas, Virat Kohli’s brother, took a swipe at former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on social media. Manjrekar’s comments about the Royal Challengers Bengaluru caused a stir during the present IPL 2025. After the match between RCB and Mumbai Indians, he said that now it’s not a best vs. best anymore as Virat is supposedly past his prime, referring to the match-up between Virat and Bumrah. Manjrekar did not include Virat in his top-10 batters in IPL 2025, while he is the highest run-scorer so far.
Vikas called out Manjrekar on the platform Threads, where he pointed out Manjrekar’s career ODI strike rate of only 64.31. “Easy to talk about 200 plus strike rates,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kohli mentioned about partnerships in T20 cricket on slow pitches where batters cannot merely launch big shots straightaway. He added that he and KL Rahul have done well in these situations. In the last match against Delhi Capitals, he scored his sixth fifty in just ten innings, keeping RCB unbeaten away from home. After the game, Kohli commented that it was a game of two halves on the pitch and reiterated the need to communicate while chasing the runs.
Kohli said that his batting style depended on how much he thought about the target, the pitch, and the bowlers in question. He likes to keep the singles and doubles coming so that the tempo of the match does not die down. He strongly feels that it is all about partnerships in a tournament such as this one. Krunal Pandya started out very slow in the match, eventually getting his first fifty in nine years, as all credit goes to Kohli for their partnership during the innings.
After Kohli’s departure, Tim David arrived to hit runs at 19 from just five balls while sealing victory. Kohli spoke about their power hitters, Tim and Jitesh, and how that later becomes an advantage for them in their innings. He acknowledged the spin duo’s fine work, Krunal and Suyash Sharma. Hazlewood and Bhuvi for a reason, Kohli stated, with Krunal praised for his variation of pace and recognition given to Suyash as an asset, even if he hasn’t taken many wickets.
