'Easy to talk about...': Virat Kohli's brother gives savage reply to Sanjay Manjrekar over strike-rate dig at RCB star

Vikas Kohli, the brother of Indian cricket sensation Virat Kohli, delivered a pointed response to former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar's recent comments regarding his brother's performance in the ongoing IPL 2025. Manjrekar had made two critical remarks about the 36-year-old's batting abilities during the tournament. Initially, Manjrekar suggested that Kohli was not performing at his peak when facing Jasprit Bumrah. Later, the former India captain failed to include Kohli in a social media post highlighting top batting performances in IPL 2025.

In a direct and unapologetic manner, Vikas took to the social media platform Threads to address Manjrekar's comments. He pointedly reminded Manjrekar of his own career ODI strike rate, insinuating that it is easy to critique a player's performance when one has not achieved a 200-plus batting strike rate themselves.

“Mr. Sanjay Manjrekar. Career ODI strike rate: 64.31. Easy to talk about 200 plus strike rates,” the post read.

Virat Kohli’s brother Vikas Kohli on threads pic.twitter.com/a7FXKsODR0

— RCBIANS OFFICIAL (@RcbianOfficial) April 29, 2025

The main attraction of the April 7 match between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was Kohli facing a Bumrah who was making a comeback. Manjrekar said on Star Sports that he thinks Bumrah would dominate this match since he is playing at his best right now. In the meantime, he hinted that Kohli's prime may be over.

"Virat Kohli was at his best 5-6 years back. Jasprit Bumrah is at his peak. Jasprit Bumrah's stocks are rising," Manjrekar told JioStar. "Virat Kohli's stocks used to be there at the top, but not now. It is not a best vs best battle."

Two weeks later, Manjrekar posted a "batting only list that matters," which included seven players, along with their IPL 2025 run total and strike rate on X, formerly known as Twitter. Kohli's name was not on the list, though.

When it comes to batting only list that matters.Big runs with great SR so far.

Pooran : 377 runs SR 205

Priyansh Arya : 254 runs SR 202

Shreyas : 263 runs SR 185

Surya : 373 runs SR 167

Buttler : 356 runs SR 166

Mitchell Marsh : 344 runs SR 161

Travis Head: 261 runs SR…

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 26, 2025

Virat Kohli currently ranks second on the list for most runs in the IPL 2025 season, having scored 443 runs in 10 innings at an impressive average of 63.29 and a strike rate of 138.87. His exceptional performance has been instrumental in propelling the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to the top of the table, with 14 points from 10 matches. They are now just one win away from securing their spot in the playoffs.

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