IPL 2020 | Virat Kohli has convinced me he doesn’t need crowds to perform, insists Kevin Pietersen

Royal Challengers Bangalore seem to finally have luck in their favour as at the mid-point of the tournament they stand on the third place in the points table with 10 points, winning five matches out of seven. But, unlike the team’s performance, Kohli did not have the best of starts to the tournament. However, Kohli changed that around in their win against CSK as he hammered an unbeaten 90 to take his team to a win. 

On being asked about Virat Kohli’s performance, Kevin Pietersen stated that everybody is talking about Kohli because of the way he batted against CSK, which hadn’t happened up until that time in the tournament. 

“We are going to keep talking about Virat Kohli. We keep talking about him so much is because of the way he batted the other night. He has done that for years, years and years. But he hadn’t done that up until that point (90 not out against CSK). It actually doesn’t matter about the crowds. He has made himself into a kind of player that can dig deep,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.

In their next match against KKR, AB de Villiers stole the show, scoring 73* runs in 33 to take his side home. Kohli stayed not out on 33, but more importantly, he looked like the Kohli of old, which is a piece of welcome news for RCB as they look to end their trophy drought this year. Pietersen insisted that the RCB skipper does not need crowds to put on a show.

“Those emotions are still there. We have seen it now on the field. He wears his heart on his sleeve. It is what it is. ‘I am Virat Kohli and this is the way I play.’ Crowds or no crowds. He has now convinced me that he doesn’t need crowds to put on a performance like he did,” Pietersen explained.