Virat Kohli noticed people talking about him batting a little too slowly: Sanjay Manjrekar

Popular commentator and former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed himself surrounding the batting strike rate of Virat Kohli in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Manjrekar believes that the star Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter has upped the pace of his batting in the IPL, as he could clearly sense the kind of criticism that existed around his cautious approach in the tournament.

The former India batter believes that there is no noticeable change in Kohli's batting apart from the strike rate that he is hitting at. The Mumbai-born believes that this approach of Kohli stems from the fact that in the last two or three years, the amount of pressure and the outside noise regarding the pace at which he bats increased.

“This is, again, going to rile up Virat Kohli fans. We have seen Virat Kohli bat differently, bat superbly this season – at a strike rate of 140-150. This is the same Virat Kohli; there is nothing that has changed. It is only that he has decided that he is going to bat quicker. And why has he decided that? Because he could see the pressure building and people talking about him batting a little too slowly," he said via Sportstar.

Manjrekar said that batting around the strike rate of 150 is the new normal for the seasoned campaigner, but the same was not the case a few years before. According to Manjrekar, Kohli looked to rotate the strike after hitting a boundary earlier, but now, he is looking to attack since RCB have a much better and trustworthy batting order, even if there is a fall of a wicket or two early in the innings.

“This 150 strike rate was 125-130 three to four years back. It was only because Virat Kohli would hit a boundary and then pick up a one or a two. After all, he wanted to extend his innings and play longer because he felt he had to be the man to bat for most of the innings and didn’t trust the batters down the order,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

Notably, the ace batter currently has 351 runs in eight innings in IPL 2026. He is fourth on the list of top run-getters of the season thus far, batting at a phenomenal average of 58.50, which includes three half-centuries and a strike rate of 162.50. This is the highest Kohli's strike rate has been ever since his IPL debut in the inaugural season in 2008.