Royal Challengers Bengaluru are sitting on top of the IPL 2025 points table, having won seven out of 10 games they have played this season.

RCB's star batter has played a massive role in his side's incredible run this season, scoring 443 runs in 10 innings. What's mind-blowing has been his consistency at the top of the order as he notched up six fifty-plus scores in just 10 innings, striking at 138.87 and an average of 63.29.

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Kohli's calculated approach has worked wonders for RCB as they look all set to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs before any other team.

However, Kohli's cautious batting approach has attracted criticism from former India player .

Manjrekar has been highly critical of Kohli's batting approach in the ongoing campaign. Even though the 36-year-old is the second-highest run-scorer in the ongoing campaign, Manjrekar didn't even consider him while picking his top 10 batters of the thus far.

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Not only that, the cricketer-turned-commentator even claimed that Kohli is well past his prime and that we should stop viewing his faceoff with Jasprit Bumrah as a "best vs best battle" because the latter is at the top of his game, while Kohli is in the twilight phase of his career.

Manjrekar's overtly critical statements about Virat Kohli have triggered a response from his brother, Vikas Kohli, who showed him the mirror with a sarcastic dig.

Taking to the social media platform Threads, Vikas reminded the former batter of his own ODI strike rate, adding that it was always easier to talk about strike rates without walking the talk during his playing days.

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"sanjay manjrekar. Career odi strike rate: 64:31. Easy to talk about 200 plus strike rates," Vikas Kohli wrote on Threads.

Kohli played second-fiddle to Krunal Pandya as by six wickets in their previous game, scoring a 47-ball 51 while chasing 163 runs on a slow wicket.

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Speaking of his knock, Kohli said, "It was a top win, especially looking at the surface.

We saw a few games here and this wicket played out differently compared to those. Whenever there's a chase on, I keep checking with the dugout, whether we're on course."

"(What) the total (is) on the board. What the conditions are like. Who are the bowlers that are due to bowl. Who are the bowlers that are going to be hard to get away," Kohli said about his run chase strategy.

"I try and make sure my singles and doubles don't stop so that the game doesn't get stagnant. People are forgetting the importance of partnerships and that's coming to the fore in this tournament to try and dominate the bowlers through partnerships and professionalism.

"Krunal was outstanding, he can make an impact and it was just about time. We've communicated beautifully, Krunal kept telling me to stay while he took his chances," he concluded.

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Manjrekar is clearly missing the point here. While Kohli's strike rate has been below the standard considered normal in modern-day cricket, it hasn't come at the cost of his team losing the match.

People looking from the outside might get a feeling that Kohli is behind the eight ball, but, as he explained after the last win, he is always ahead of the curve by analysing the match situation and playing accordingly.