Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara showered praise on Virat Kohli for evolving his game in IPL 2025. Kohli played a key role in taking RCB to glory as the Bengaluru-based franchise defeated Punjab Kings by six runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad in IPL 2025 final on Tuesday.
The RCB veteran top-scored for the franchise in the tournament with 657 runs in 15 innings at an average of 54.75 and a strike rate of 144.71.
Pujara noted that naysayers were questioning Virat Kohli’s strike rate in the past but the talisman was able to let his bat do all the talking.
“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,” Pujara said on Star Sports when he was asked how difficult it must have been for Virat Kohli to evolve his game at the fag end of his career.
“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,” he added.
Pujara, who has observed Kohli from close quarters, hailed the batter’s work ethics and hunger to keep improving his game at the top level.
“It doesn’t come naturally. You need to work on it, and even to work on it at this age, when he is 36 and has played the game for such a long time, if you are still willing to learn and make a difference to the team, that shows how big a player he is,” he observed.
Meanwhile, Kohli was seen in tears after RCB won their maiden IPL title. Pujara highlighted that it showed how much winning an IPL title mattered for Kohli.
“It’s a massive moment in his career. He has achieved a lot in his career, but the one thing he couldn’t achieve in his career for so many years was an IPL title. It shows how much it mattered to him because he was working hard to win this title for many years. He was looking very emotional and the tears coming from his eyes show the importance of an IPL title for a cricketer,” he replied.
“Virat has many personal achievements in his career and has done a lot with the Indian team as well. Only one thing was left incomplete in his cricketing career, that was the IPL title. RCB won that yesterday (Tuesday), and his dream of winning an IPL title got fulfilled,” Pujara observed.
Kohli deserves all the credit after RCB’s memorable win.
