Sunil Gavaskar calls out umpires for ignoring Virat Kohli's dangerous act while batting: 'No one will ever tell him'

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar immediately called out Virat Kohli's dangerous and unacceptable act during the IPL 2025 final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Put into bat first, RCB were running behind the game as boundaries were hard to come by and this prompted Kohli to look for quick twos and threes. IPL 2025 Final, RCB vs PBKS: Sunil Gavaskar called out Virat Kohli's dangerous act in the 12th over(PTI)

In the 12th over of the RCB innings bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal, Kohli ran for a quick double on the fifth delivery. The right-handed batter worked the ball wide of the long-on fielder and immediately called for two. The throw came towards the non-striker's end where Liam Livingstone made his ground comfortably after putting in a dive.

However, Sunil Gavaskar, who was on air at that time, quickly noticed Kohli running straight down the pitch. It was then that he called out the umpires for not pulling up the former RCB captain for a dangerous act that could alter the condition of the pitch in the second innings and make the 22-yards more scuffed up when Punjab Kings come out to top.

Also Read: RCB vs PBKS LIVE SCORE, IPL 2025 Final: Virat Kohli's strike-rate concern returns

“Kohli is a swift runner between the wickets. As soon as he hit the ball, he knew it was two,” said Gavaskar on air.

“He said two straightaway, running straight down the pitch. No umpire will ever tell him. There he is, running straight down the pitch again. Punjab Kings are batting second,” he added.

Kohli's strike rate sparks debate

Virat Kohli's approach in the IPL 2025 final against the Punjab Kings sparked a huge debate. The batter looked to rotate the strike instead of going for big hits.

During his stint on the English broadcast, former Australia opening batter Matthew Hayden seemingly criticised the approach, saying Kohli should look to go big as 200 is just a par total on the Ahmedabad surface.

Kohli has been batting at a strike rate of almost 150 in the entire IPL 2025 season. However, the batter took a different approach in the final as he looked to give the strike to big hitters like Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar.

During the first strategic time-out, which was taken after the end of the 9th over, RCB head coach Andy Flower and batting coach Dinesh Karthik were spotted having an animated chat with Kohli, seemingly telling him to up the scoring rate.

Kohli was eventually dismissed in the 15th over by Afghanistan pacer Azmatullah Omarzai. The right-hander walked back to the dugout after scoring 43 runs off 35 balls. RCB eventually posted 190/9 in the allotted twenty overs.

Earlier, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first. Both PBKS and RCB fielded an unchanged team for the all-important summit clash.

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