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“Virat Kohli Has Answered Strike Rate Questions…” Says Pujara After RCB’s IPL 2025 Win

Aakash Saini

Virat Kohli [Source: AP Photos]Virat Kohli [Source: AP Photos]

Virat Kohli ended one of his lifelong quests earlier this week of lifting the IPL trophy for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), doing so at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium after defeating Punjab Kings. The legendary Indian batter himself had a massive role to play in RCB’s triumph, as he finished the 2025 season as his team’s leading run-scorer and the third highest overall in the ‘Orange Cap’ race.

Kohli, who has long been questioned for maintaining low batting strike rates in T20 cricket, also answered his critics, at least as per former Indian teammate Cheteshwar Pujara.

Pujara admires fitness level of Virat Kohli

Cheteshwar Pujara has described Virat Kohli as one of the “fittest cricketers” around, and someone who is open to adapt to different conditions. He also added that Kohli has answered his strike rate critics by constantly maintaining a strike rate between 140 and 150 this IPL 2025 season.

While speaking on Star Sports and as quoted by the Indian Express, Cheteshwar Pujara said:

“It’s not easy, but the good part about Virat is that he is one of the fittest cricketers, and he is open to adapting to a new challenge or something different. He is always open to learning new things. People have been criticizing him in the past that he wasn’t batting at a strike rate of 140-150. Now, if you look at his batting this season, he has answered that question. He has batted at a strike rate of 140-150 and above. So he has evolved as a batter.”

Compatible to Cheteshwar Pujara’s claims, Virat Kohli did finish the IPL 2025 season with a batting strike rate of 144.71. The legendary Indian batter and seasoned RCB opener tallied 657 runs in 15 innings at a prolific average of 54.75, punching out eight half-centuries in the process.

However, among all 17 players who aggregated over 400 runs this IPL 2025 season, Virat Kohli’s strike rate of 144.71 marked the lowest, with Rohit Sharma’s 149.28 being the second worst of them.