Virat Kohli may have won the fifty-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy during his illustrious career, having captured them in 2011 and 2013 respectively, but luck hasn't shone on him in the T20 format. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter has neither won the T20 World Cup nor the Indian Premier League (IPL).
On Friday, after RCB were beaten by Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL eliminator, extending their search for a maiden title in the cash-rich league, Virat Kohli became a butt of jokes on Twitter with the hashtag Chokli trending big time on the micro-blogging platform.
“Chokli” was about “choker” – a term which has now been associated with Virat Kohli for his inability to make a big score in crunch games, especially the knockout matches.
Opening the batting for RCB, Virat Kohli could only muster 7 runs off 8 deliveries against Rajasthan before being caught behind off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna.
The hero of RCB's victory over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Wednesday's qualifier, Rajat Patidar did hit a quick-fire 58 off 42 balls to help his team post a good total on the board.
But none of the RCB batters, excluding Patidar, looked like smashing the ball to the park. In the end, the Bengaluru-based outfit could only achieve a score of 157/8 in their quota of 20 years.
With the likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, and Shimron Hetmyer in their line-up, it was a hard task for RCB bowlers to contain them.
The only way RCB could have won the match was by taking wickets, but Buttler took that out of the equation.
The England wicketkeeper was in an altogether different mood at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, playing a blinder of a knock as he raced to an unbeaten 106 off just 60 balls to complete a rather comfortable seven-wicket win for RCB with 11 deliveries to spare.
As soon as RCB lost the game, users took to social media to have fun at Virat Kohli's expense.
“Once a choker always a choker,” a fan taunted Kohli on Twitter.
“Dear HaarCB and Chokli fans, No trophy till you kick that panauti out from team,” another argued referring to Virat Kohli as the “curse” that has inflicted RCB since IPL's inception.
“Kings perform when it matters the most, chokers can only choke,” a third wrote.
“That's why Great People say, always be Humble and keep your feet Grounded. But, If you turned in to Blind Egoistic Cringe Unit then when you fall, you will fall like hell,” a fourth said while taking a pot-shot at Kohli's ultra-aggressive behaviour on the field.
'Royal Chokers Bangalore'
Real Multiverse Of Chokers🙌🏻🙌🏻
Credit Goes To 'Chokli Bhai'😜😝#RCB #RCBvsRR #Chokli #EeSalaCupNamde #Haarcb pic.twitter.com/FQGkjIEkTh
— 🇮🇳Tanmay Kulkarni🇮🇳 (@Tanmaycoolkarni) May 27, 2022
Rohit Sharma right now😂#Chokli #Kohli #siraj #RCB pic.twitter.com/FggXYPn2Wx
— Bhairav (@Bhairav2005) May 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/ArjunDaWarrior2/status/1530263538542907393
https://twitter.com/shriom_chaubey/status/1530403153321279491
During the current edition of the IPL, Virat Kohli was seen using cuss words against his former India captain MS Dhoni.
Meanwhile, others posted memes, comparing RCB's IPL drought to Bollywood superstar Salman's marriage as they claimed that both are not meant to happen ever.
Some even posted a photo of Kohli with Tottenham talisman Harry Kane, saying that like the England football captain the ex-skipper of the Indian cricket team will remain trophyless in the IPL.
Kohli's dwindling numbers with the bat in the IPL, however, will worry both the Indian team management and the selectors, considering he's the vital cog in the South Asian side's middle order.
With the all-important England tour not too far away, Kohli's seemingly unending struggles with the bat could have a bearing on the result of the series-deciding fifth Test match which has been rescheduled from last year and would be played at Edgbaston in the first week of July.
Though Kohli's problems appear to be technical, there's no doubt that he's among the most hardworking cricketers around, and with Rahul Dravid as India's head coach it is hard to understand why the Delhi-born cricketer has failed to find remedies to his issues on the off-side.
For more than two and half years now, Kohli has been fidgeting with balls that are bowled in the channel a little away from him on the off-side, and more often than not, he has paid a heavy price for poking at those deliveries.
India's former coach Ravi Shastri has adviced Virat Kohli to take a break from the sport to rejuvenate himself, a piece of advice the 33-year-old has taken keenly.
But right now, it looks like a break may just freshen his mind, and to find his best form, Kohli would have to spend hours and hours on the practice ground because technical flaws can only be fixed in the nets and not at home.
However, it is not a question that Virat Kohli's fans could answer. It is something only he could answer.
Still, there's hardly any doubt that time is running out quickly for Kohli and he needs to find his mojo as soon as possible.
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