Irrespective of who wins IPL 2016, history and more importantly stats men will record it as the competition’s Virat Kohli edition, just like the 1981 series between England and Australia is known as Botham’s Ashes and Australia’s tour of West Indies in 1999 belonged to Brian Lara.
Cynics might scoff at the fact that both those feats were achieved in Test matches but the numbers achieved by the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper are just phenomenal, making light work of some other staggering performances.
Virat Kohli has amassed 919 runs in 14 matches at an average of 91.9 with 4 centuries and 6 fifties (in the league stage of the tournament). Just to put things in perspective, Kohli has more centuries than rest of the players combined (4 as compared to 3 by all others) and averages nearly 40 runs more than almost every other batsman in the top five. Metaphorically speaking, Kohli has taken IPL 2016 into his personal chamber, painted it with his colour and then returned it back to everyone.
Sad as it might be, Kohli has managed to take away the limelight from some brilliant performances by others in this tournament. While Kohli’s numbers put him in a parallel universe altogether, there are others who have performed exceptionally well on earth. Keeping the playoffs aside, let’s take a look at five cricketers who have been dramatically overshadowed by this genius run machine named Virat Kohli.
#1 Yuzvendra Chahal – 11 Matches, 19 Wickets
Though it is true that Virat Kohli has literally carried the Royal Challengers Bangalore on his shoulders, some of the credit for the team’s success should go to the bowling unit, which includes leggie Yuzvendra Chahal. Holder of the Purple Cap during the league stage of IPL 2016, Chahal has taken 19 wickets in just 11 games at an economy rate of 7.87. Not only this, his average of 17.05 is the best in the top 10 bowlers of the tournament.
He was particularly magnificent in the crunch matches against Kings XI Punjab (4/25) and Delhi Daredevils (3/32), stepping up just when his team needed him the most. Moreover, he is often the go-to man for Virat Kohli in a team that lacks the punch of a pure strike bowler. Chahal, along with Shane Watson, has kept RCB in the loop in the tournament, given the suspect nature of their bowling attack.
#2 Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 14 Matches, 18 Wickets
Given his usual demeanour, anything that Bhuvneshwar Kumar does will hardly get noticed as opposed to a Ravindra Jadeja or a Shikhar Dhawan. However, Kumar has been the lynchpin of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling attack this season and is a close second for being the best bowler in IPL 2016. Kumar, with 18 wickets under his belt, has led a bowling attack comprising of Indian veteran Ashish Nehra and Bangladeshi sensation Mustafizur Rahman.
Kumar’s ability to swing the ball both ways has been his main weapon in IPL 2016, making him a regular wicket taker. However, it is not surprising that he has been overshadowed by Virat Kohli, who was particularly severe on him during the two teams’ game at the Chinnaswamy in Bangalore. Kumar will need to bring his A-game if Sunrisers are to do well in the business end of the tournament.
#3 Rohit Sharma – 14 Matches, 489 Runs
For someone who claims to be a “fan” of Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma, Kohli has unintentionally been unkind to his friend and teammate. If one was to compare Sharma’s tournament to Kohli’s, it would be fair to say that the former was pretty mediocre. However, he is one of the few batsmen who have scored more than 300 runs in every edition of the IPL since its inception and continued his form with a near-500 tally once again.
Even though Mumbai could not make it to the playoffs, Rohit was sublime with the bat and provided the necessary launchpad in a large number of games for the defending champions. In fact, Mumbai managed to beat Royal Challengers at their home ground and also got Virat Kohli out for a single digit score.
#4 AB de Villiers – 14 Matches, 603 Runs
If a context was not provided to a person who has not seen IPL 2016, saying that “AB de Villiers was overshadowed” would border on impractical and even rubbish but that is exactly what Virat Kohli has done to the South African maestro. One does not see someone scoring 600 odd runs in 14 matches in a T20 tournament and still manage to play second fiddle to another batsman.
De Villiers has notched up more than 600 runs at an average of more than 50 at a phenomenal strike rate of 170.33. He has been one of the mainstays of RCB’s batting line-up and a big reason why Virat Kohli has managed to perform at such a high level. Together with Kohli, de Villiers has scripted RCB’s comeback in the tournament. catapulting them from a bottom three position to second place in the table. Furthermore, de Villiers has had the best seat in the house to watch Kohli destroy opposition bowling attacks.
#5 David Warner – 14 Matches, 658 Runs
If this was any other tournament and not for Virat Kohli, David Warner would have walked away with Orange Cap and helped his team win the trophy. However, the pocket-sized Australian dynamo has been completely undone by his RCB counterpart. Nevertheless, Warner is one of the main reasons why Sunrisers Hyderabad have made it to the playoffs for the first time in IPL history.
One way in which Warner has been at a disadvantage as compared to Kohli, who has had the cushion of having a de Villiers or a Chris Gayle batting on the other side. Not taking anything away from Kohli, Warner has also batted on wickets that are more bowler friendly in comparison to the flat deck at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Nevertheless, facts remain facts and Virat has batted on another level and deserves all the plaudits coming his way.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
