RCB vs RR: Decoding Virat Kohli's performance against Shreyas Gopal
In the first afternoon game of IPL 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi. Notably, the spinners are expected to be in action with the due being negated. The spotlight will be on RCB skipper Virat Kohli, who has been vulnerable to leg-spinners. Meanwhile, Shreyas Gopal will aim to exploit his weakness. Let us analyze Kohli's performance against Gopal.
Kohli vs Gopal: Stats that matter
Presently, Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer of the IPL. He has amassed 5,430 runs from 172 innings at an average of 37.19. On the other hand, Gopal owns 39 wickets in 34 matches, including a best match haul of 4/16. As of now, the former has managed to score 24 runs off 12 balls against Gopal, while Gopal has dismissed him thrice.
IPL: Kohli vs Gopal
Kohli struggles against RR
Kohli is the second-highest run-scorer against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL among active RCB players. However, he struggles to score runs consistently against them. So far, Kohli has aggregated 367 runs from 20 matches at an average of 21.58 against RR.
Over the years, wrist-spin has troubled Kohli
Wrist-spinners have often perturbed Kohli in white-ball cricket. In T20Is, Kohli has the second-highest dot-ball percentage against the right-arm wrist-spinners. Notably, 28.74 per cent of deliveries bowled by leg-spinners to Kohli are dots since 2015. It is interesting to note that his own team-mate Adam Zampa has dismissed Kohli seven times in international cricket. However, Kohli averages a prolific 46.20 against leg-spinners (T20Is).
RCB vs RR: What to expect?
Abu Dhabi will host the first afternoon match this season (RCB vs RR). Hence, spin will likely come into play early on, owing to lack of due. Interestingly, Kohli has been dismissed by Gopal in three of his last four innings against Rajasthan Royals. Considering his patchy form, it will be interesting to see how the RCB skipper deals with Gopal this time.
