"I have been lucky" - RR seamer's massive claim on dismissing Virat Kohli multiple times in the IPL

Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Sandeep Sharma graciously admitted being lucky to dismiss legendary batter Virat Kohli seven times in the IPL. Despite being the IPL's all-time leading run-scorer with 8,661 runs, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star has struggled against Sandeep.

Kohli averages a dismal 18.90 against the RR pacer, while being dismissed seven times. However, the right-hander has scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of 150 against Sandeep.

When asked about having the wood over Kohli in an interview with Crictracker, Sandeep said:

"I think I have been lucky and I have been asked this question so many times and always I have told that I have been lucky. I have dismissed him seven times. And out of those seven times, I think I have been lucky four times. I have been lucky more times in his case than any other bowler, I feel."

"One time, he was out down the leg while he was flicking, it hit the edge. The other time, umpire gave out LBW wrongly. Third time, he was batting on 100. He had scored 100 in Chinnaswamy Stadium, I still remember. And the ball I had bowled, it was a completely over-pitched ball. It was like, he can't miss it being a batsman on 100 and he missed it and he got out on the long off. Fourth one was again, it was a normal length ball and he played like a blinder shot and it went straight into David Warner's hand," recalled Sandeep.

Incidentally, Sandeep hasn't dismissed Kohli in their meetings over the last four IPL seasons. The latter has scored an impressive 59 runs off only 33 deliveries in that period.

Sandeep Sharma excludes Virat Kohli from his list of toughest batters in the IPL

Sandeep Sharma excluded Virat Kohli from his list of toughest batters to bowl to in the IPL. Instead, the RR pacer picked former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Suresh Raina as the hardest to bowl to in the powerplay.

In the death overs, Sandeep felt MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers were the toughest to bowl to.

"I feel it depends on which phase you're bowling. For me, in powerplay, I felt Suresh Raina was the toughest batsman to bowl. He always came and dominated me, being a lefty. Left-handed batters have never dominated me in IPL, like consistently. One odd game, somebody scores runs. So, I felt Suresh Raina was the toughest batter, for me, to bowl in powerplay," said Sandeep (via the aforementioned source).

He continued:

"And in death, I would say MSD (MS Dhoni) and ABD (AB de Villiers). These two batters were like a nightmare when they were on their peak."

While Raina and Dhoni are fifth and sixth in all-time IPL runs with 5,528 and 5,439, respectively, De Villiers is eighth, with 5,162 runs.