Virat Kohli's Six-Hitting Evolution: Steyn Reveals Post-Test Cricket Mindset Shift

Kohli remained unbeaten on 69 not out off 38 balls, with the help of five sixes and as many fours, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by six wickets.

Speaking on Star Sports, the former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn spoke about Virat Kohli's evolution as a batter.

"A lot of players, when they reach the level Virat Kohli is at right now, look to change their game by a couple of percentages. That is what Virat has been doing every IPL season. He looks for ways to improve himself, and the new improvement which he has made in his game is his six-hitting ability, which has increased over the last two seasons," said Steyn.

"As a batter, it's about recognizing a ball that you want to hit for a six. In the past, Virat had a set mindset of playing a particular shot. But now, his mentality has changed a lot after retiring from Test cricket. Virat is so good and backs himself so much that he is able to execute the aerial shots time and again. This just shows the class of the man," he said.

Earlier, SRH recovered strongly from an early collapse to post 201/9. Ishan Kishan led the fightback with a scintillating 80 off 38 balls, while contributions from the middle order ensured a competitive total.

However, the IPL debutant Jacob Duffy rattled SRH early, reducing them to 29/3 by claiming three top-order wickets. He finished with figures of 3/22, while Romario Shepherd also picked up three wickets.

Speaking about the reasons why SRH failed to defend their total, Steyn said, "SRH skipper Ishan Kishan batted beautifully. His knock of 80 runs was beautiful to watch. I felt he controlled the innings well and allowed SRH to maintain their aggressive batting intent in the first half. But in the second half, there were literally no plans being implemented by SRH's bowlers. It is difficult to defend high targets with the kind of bowling attack they have."

"I was a bit surprised that Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled only those two overs in the Powerplay and never got the chance to bowl after that. So, there are quite a few discussions that need to happen between the SRH team management and the Captain on how best to use their resources. The kind of aggressive cricket they play, even in Hyderabad, the pitch will be a flat deck. So, they need their bowlers to take wickets and put pressure on the opposition batters. Otherwise, it will be a massive challenge defending a score of 200-plus runs for this SRH side with the kind of bowlers they have. They need to be smarter. They have to bowl differently and stick to a plan, which unfortunately, against RCB, they could not," he concluded.

- ANI