It's taken a long time coming, but there's a clear paradigm shift in Virat Kohli's batting approach in this edition of the IPL.
In a stark contrast to his usual calculated approach focused on anchoring the innings, Kohli now appears willing to gamble more with his batting. This shift in strategy isn't without reason.
There is talk that Kohli is not an automatic selection for this year's T20 World Cup. And that somewhere clearly seems to have hurt the pride of India's batting lynchpin.
Kohli has seemingly shed his inhibitions and no more looks hesitant to play lofted shots whenever an opportunity presents itself.
His first three innings have yielded Royal Challengers Bengaluru 181 runs and it has come at a strike rate of 141.
On Friday, Kohli hammered Mitchell Starc for 33 runs in 17 balls (3x4, 2x6).
Another telling aspect of Friday evening was Kohli opening his shoulders against Sunil Narine.
He hit the mystery spinner for a six on the fifth ball he faced.
What's so special about it? That's only the second time he has hit the West Indian for a maximum in IPL history.
1/10:IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders cruise to victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru
AP
2/10:Virat Kohli
<p>Virat Kohli's consecutive IPL half-century wasn't enough for Royal Challengers Bangalore as Kolkata Knight Riders secured a comfortable seven-wicket victory.<br /></p>PTI
3/10:Shreyas Iyer
<p>Kolkata chased down the home side's 182-6 with 19 balls to spare, as skipper Shreyas Iyer sealed the win with a calm six off Mayank Dagar.<br /></p>PTI
4/10:Phil Salt and Sunil Narine
<p>KKR's chase began strongly with Phil Salt (30) and all-rounder Sunil Narine (47) sharing an 86-run partnership for the visitors.<br /><br /><br /></p>AP
5/10:Sunil Narine
<p>Narine smashed five sixes in his 22-ball innings before Dagar dismissed him in the seventh over. Salt was caught at deep square leg in the next over.<br /></p>PTI
6/10:Venkatesh Iyer
<p>Venkatesh Iyer's 50 maintained the momentum until he was caught by Kohli, while Shreyas finished the innings with his 39.<br /></p>PTI
7/10:Mitchell Starc
<p>IPL's most expensive player Starc conceded 47 runs for KKR. In two matches, he bowled 8 overs, conceding 100 runs without taking any wickets.<br /></p>PTI
8/10:Faf du Plessis
<p>Du Plessis fell for eight at the end of the second over, scooping a perplexing delivery from Harshit Rana straight into the arms of Mitchell Starc.<br /></p>AFP
9/10:Cameron Green
<p>Cameron Green was the second-highest scorer with 33 runs but was dismissed when he missed a lightning delivery from Andre Russell, crashing off his back pad onto the stumps.<br /></p>AFP
