Manoj Tiwary recalls chat with Virat Kohli from IPL 2017 amid IPL 2026

Former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary recalled asking Virat Kohli how he manages to stay so consistent at the top level. Tiwary revealed that Kohli told him he tries to target the best bowler of the opposition to put them under pressure.

Kohli scored 49 runs off 34 balls against Lucknow Super Giants at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli is currently the Orange Cap holder as he has scored 228 runs in five matches at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 158.33 in IPL 2026.

Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz, “We don’t call him a great just like that. When I was with Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017, we played against RCB in Bengaluru. He had an outstanding season the previous year, scoring over 900 runs. I went and asked him, ‘Aise kaise karta hai tu (How do you do this)?’ He told me one thing which I liked a lot. He said, ‘Main opposition ka jo best bowler hai, main usko hi target karta hoon (I target the best bowler of the opposition)’.

“He did the same today as well. Mohammad Shami was leading the attack and was their best bowler.”

The former Bengal cricketer praised Kohli for his match-reading skills. 

“He plays according to the situation. The run rate was 10 in the powerplay where Virat Kohli launched an attack against Shami. It was just a formality after that, just trying to build a partnership and taking the game forward,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan highlighted that RCB made a good tactical move in promoting Jitesh Sharma ahead of Tim David against LSG.

He said, “They are taking away a tactical advantage. They did not waste this game from that aspect. Jitesh Sharma was sent up the order, which was a tactical move. If the target was a bigger one, Tim David would have come ahead of him. They have that flexibility, and they are not leaving a single chance tactically.”

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Delhi Capitals at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Saturday.