'He's no machine': Virat Kohli's childhood coach defends RCB skipper's poor IPL 2020 start

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli started his IPL 2020 season with back-to-back mediocre performances. In the first two games of this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kohli managed to score 14 against SunRisers Hyderabad and just 1 against Kings XI Punjab. This has thus set fans to lose their calm, but coach Rajkumar Sharma feels it is just a part of a sportsman's life.

During a chat with ANI, Kohli's childhood coach claimed that the benchmark that the Team India skipper has set is the reason why fans have lost cool so quickly and want to see their starman score runs every time he takes guard.

"It is just a part and parcel of a sportsman's life. You have good days and you have bad days on the pitch. It is just that Kohli has set such a benchmark that people forget he is only human and not a machine. You are bound to have off days and there is nothing wrong with it. People will ask if there is some technical issue or a mindset issue, but I will again say that it is a part of the game.

"You cannot succeed every time you walk onto the pitch. Kohli's fans have been so used to seeing him perform consistently that even one bad innings makes them sad," he pointed.

The last game saw Kohli also miss a couple of catches which ultimately saw KXIP skipper KL Rahul score a match-winning hundred. Does the coach feel that his ward is a little impatient as he hasn't been on the pitch for close to six months? Rajkumar answered in the negative.

"Firstly, like I said before, these things happen. Anybody can miss a catch or two. Even Jonty Rhodes missed a catch here and there. Javed Miandad was considered a great fielder and if you go back and look, he also did slip once or twice.
"So, this has nothing to do with patience or the urge to set the tone after the resumption of cricket. It is just a bad day on the field which can happen to even the best. He has played enough cricket to come back strongly and lead from the front," the coach smiled.

RCB didn't have a good outing against KXIP on Thursday as they lost by 97 runs at the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Kohli made no bones about the fact that it was a bad day in the office not just for the team, but also for him individually.

"Yeah it didn't (go well). I think we were good in the middle phase with the ball, they got off to a decent start and we pulled things back nicely. I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it, not the best day in the office, a couple of important chances of KL when he was set and that cost us 35-40 runs at a later stage," he had said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

(With ANI inputs)