Former England captain issues explosive statement on Virat Kohli's weakness after RCB's loss against KKR in IPL 2023

Virat Kohli has been in good form in the IPL 2023 so far. The former RCB skipper has made 333 runs in eight innings with an average of 47.57. But when he played his last innings against Kolkata Knight Riders, Kohli was not his usual self. He made a subdued 54 off 37 balls before he was shown the door by Andre Russell. KKR picked up a 21-run win against RCB.

Kohli and the RCB batters have struggled against spin. The run machine has a strike rate of 113.76 against spinners in IPL 2023 so far. He has gotten out to them four times in six innings. Speaking on Cricbuzz, former England skipper Michael Vaughan exposed Kohli's frailties against spin and said that going forward more and more teams will unleash their spinners on Kohli which could have an impact on his run-scoring going forward in IPL 2023.

Most teams will attack Virat with spin and put three fielders at midwicket - Michael Vaughan

"A lot of teams are going to bowl spin against Virat because of his strike rate against them. I think he has a 107 strike rate against spin. So most teams are going to bowl spin against Virat Kohli and they are going to put three fielders at the mid-wicket." Michael Vaughan said. "I think his mindset after the powerplay is almost to be there at the 18th (over). I don't think he is thinking about boundaries enough. I think he can (hit boundaries) because he is got the game, the power and the timing to be able to go and hit the six." he added.

Vaughan then heavily criticised RCB's underperforming middle order. RCB's middle order has not turned up in this edition of the league so far. The Indian players in Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed and Suyash Prabhudessai have not made the required runs which have put extra pressure on the top order. On top of that, the top order has scored 73 %off all runs made by RCB, which amounts to 1053 out of 1365.

This is a worrying sign for RCB as they will hope for a change in fortunes when they come up against Lucknow Super Giants in the next game. RCB now have won four games and lost four games. The side has been inconsistent and will hope for a better run as the tournament progresses.