Ravi Ashwin's ‘bizarre’ praise for Virat Kohli; ‘he's putting on a show for people to see how the game should be played’

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about the energy of India's and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting icon Virat Kohli, who brings to his batting. Keeping his “chasing master” tag intact, Kohli once again showed why is the best in the world even at the age of 37 as the former skipper's unbeaten 69 off 38 balls saw RCB home in Indian Premier League (IPL) opener on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Ashwin praised Kohli's energy and intent at the crease, calling his approach "bizarre at this age" in a positive sense. Ashwin highlighted Kohli's eagerness to take quick singles and attack even during comfortable partnerships, noting his ability to "walk the talk" and set an example of playing the game hard and the right way.

“I find him quite bizarre at this age. I tell him this during our chats now and then. He was batting on 40-odd, there was a partnership going on, and RCB were coasting. He ran through for the first single, stopped there, and the other batter hadn't even reached halfway, but he was already looking for a second,” Ashwin said on a JioHotstar show.

“That was a 57-metre boundary on the leg side, and it shows the enthusiasm he still brings to the game. He walks the talk. It's almost like he's putting on a show for people to see how the game should be played, play it hard and play it the way it's meant to be played. That stood out to me with respect to what Virat did. And if this is the way RCB are going to bat, Virat just needs to bat the full 20 overs,” added the veteran spinner.

Virat Kohli surpasses Pakistan's Shoaib Malik

Playing his first T20 since the IPL 2025 final, Kohli guided RCB to a si-wicket win to start their title defense. RCB's chase began with a couple of boundaries in the first over off Phil Salt, but he fell early. Kohli slammed his 64th IPL half-century, which was laced with five fours and five sixes, helping RCB gun down 202 in 15.2 overs.

Kohli looked in sublime touch from the first ball and also became the first batter in IPL history to cross 4000 runs in chases, thus surpassing former Pakistan batter Shoaib Malik to become the sixth-highest run-getter in T20 cricket. Malik has made 13571 runs in T20 557 matches and 515 innings. The former cricketer had an average of 35.99, including 83 half-centuries in the shortest format.

Ravi Ashwin's praise for Jacob Duffy

Ashwin also spoke highly of New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy, who broke the Sunrisers Hyderabad backbone in the powerplay on his IPL debut. Picked in the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Duffy took the wickets of Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy and Travis Head inside the first four overs to put Sunrisers Hyderabad in trouble.

“When Jacob Duffy was picked at the auction, I was probably the first one to say it was an amazing pick to replace Josh Hazlewood. At that time, he was the No.1 T20 bowler. He had also taken a six-wicket haul in a Test match and is right in the prime of his career. He has bowled a lot in New Zealand and knows exactly what he is doing," Ashwin said.

"What really stood out is that he can swing the ball both ways, but he didn’t try to do that against Abhishek Sharma. The first time he bowled full to Travis Head, he got pumped down the ground, a good lesson learned. After that, he stayed away from that length and bowled very good areas.

"Tactically, RCB were superior and he executed those plans beautifully. He was probably the reason the scoring was kept in check. With around 400 runs in the day, it was still a low-scoring game by Chinnaswamy standards,” added the Indian, who became the first from the country to sign for Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States.

With ANI inputs