'People think my T20 game is declining, I don't feel like that': Kohli fires back at critics

Virat Kohli (Pic: AFP)

Pumped up after an unprecedented seventh IPL hundred against table-toppers Gujarat Titans, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli took a dig at his critics who felt that he was all but over as a T20 batter, saying he is playing some of his best cricket in the shortest format.

Post the T20 World Cup semi-final exit last year, there have been indications that India's T20 team would undergo a revamp, and although the official line has been "workload management" of senior players, the likes of captain Rohit Sharma and Kohli himself haven't played for India in the shortest format. "I felt great. Lot of people think that my T20 cricket is declining, I don't feel like that at all. I think I am playing my best T20 cricket again," Kohli said.

However, his scintillating ton was overshadowed by Shubman Gill's sublime 52-ball-104 not out, which knocked RCB out of the IPL.

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Kohli, whose strike rate and batting against spin in the middle overs have often been questioned, has now scored back-to-back hundreds against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans, taking him atop the list of the highest number of century makers in the ongoing cash-rich league.

"I'm just enjoying myself. This is how I play T20 cricket, I look to hit gaps, hit a lot of boundaries, and then the big ones towards the end if the situation allows me to. You have to read situations and rise up to the occasion when the situation demands. I feel really good with my game at the moment and how I'm batting," said Kohli, who is closing in on 12,000 career T20 runs.

Interestingly, Kohli now has 639 runs and is third in this year's run-getters' list behind his skipper Faf du Plessis (730 runs) and Shubman Gill (680 runs).

(With PTI inputs)