'Virat Kohli will open up a NEW dimension to his game': Robin Uthappa on RCB player adapting to T10 format | Exclusive

Virat Kohli, also known as 'King Kohli' or 'Chase Master' or even 'known to convert 1s to 2s' - however, it is only recently that fans are seeing a new version of him, the one hitting 4s and 6s. In Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) opening game against Mumbai Indians (MI), Kohli put his best foot forward to put a smile on the faces of the crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB got off to a solid start with an eight-wicket win as they chased down MI's 172-run target in the 17th over. 

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Central to this win was the performance of former India captain Virat Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 82 off 49 – with six boundaries and five sixes.

While Kohli loves running between wickets, he has also taken to scoring in boundaries for the past years. Even during the game against Pakistan in the T20I World Cup 2022, Kohli scored an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls which consisted of 6 fours and 4 sixes.

With a change in mindset from playing T20I, the question is how the King will fare in the game's newest shortest format, the T10.

Given that T10 leagues are played worldwide and have now reached India courtesy of The Indian Masters T10, would players like Kohli be able to adapt as the format gets shorter over time?

When asked about the same at the T10 League's press conference, former cricketer and current member of The Indian Masters T10 Robin Uthappa responded that it would be exciting to witness Kohli's new version in this format.

When asked if Kohli, who loves to convert 1s to 2s, can adapt to T10 where boundaries are needed from ball 1, Robin Uthappa told OTTplay that if he ever played this version, he would like it.

"Yeah, I think he will open up a new dimension of his game that he didn't see was possible. And we've seen that with Virat in T20 cricket. We've seen how he explodes after the 1st 30 ball goes on another gear which feels like 'this is an inhuman kind of batting' and I'm certain that if he ever plays this version of the game, he will like it".

Speaking of the upcoming T10 league, T Ten Global Sports revealed that after six illustrious iterations of the Abu Dhabi T10, The Indian Masters T10 would debut in India.

The games, which will take place from June 14 to June 28, 2023, will have a spectacular 10-over format. During 12 game days, there will be 19 matches in total. The competition will include six franchisees, each of which is co-owned by a prominent business house and an A-list Bollywood celebrity.

Former Indian cricket stars like Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Mohammed Kaif and many other top international names like Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Jacque Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Chris Gayle, Brett Lee are expected to take part in the 1st ever edition of the Indian Masters T10.