IPL 2024: Was Kohli taking a dig at Shastri after fiery IPL knock?

Virat Kohli put the rival bowlers to the sword, and then with some witty comments, he put his detractors in their place.

And the man at the receiving end of it was none other than Ravi Shastri under whose coaching he led the Indian team in the past.

Kohli showed he is more than just a promotional tool for T20 cricket with a blistering knock in the Indian Premier League as the former Indian captain sent out a warning to bowlers ahead of the World Cup in the US and West Indies this year.

Despite playing only two T20 internationals since November 2022, Kohli is expected to make the squad for the June showpiece and he reminded selectors of his skills with a match-winning 77 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Monday's IPL game.

The game was just his second for Bengaluru following a two-month break from cricket, but the 35-year-old looked like he had never been away, helping his team successfully chase down the target of 177 set by Punjab Kings.

"I know my name is nowadays attached to just promoting the game in many parts of the world, when it comes to T20 cricket," a smiling Kohli said, referring to comments by former England captain Kevin Pietersen during an earlier match.

"But, I've still got it, I guess."

Pietersen, the England batting legend, has earlier said that sport needed Kohli at the T20 World Cup in the US as it's imperative to have the game's biggest star in a new country where the ICC is trying to promote the game.

“The World Cup is happening in the USA. India are playing Pakistan in New York. You’d want someone like a Virat Kohli to help the game grow,” Pietersen said.

But former India coach Ravi Shastri didn't agree with Pietersen, saying India needed to take a young team to the World Cup because winning the tournament is more important than promoting the sport.

“It’s not about growing the game, it’s about winning the competition. The game will grow wherever it needs to grow. What I’m trying to say is no baggage. And India won in 2007 T20 World Cup with a young side. You want youth. You want flamboyance. You want that dash,” the former India coach had said.

Kohli, meanwhile, batted with a lot of freedom on Monday, laying to rest doubts about his ability to reinvent his game with an ultra aggressive approach against Punjab, stepping out and hitting pace bowlers over cover as opposed to his trademark strokes that race off the turf.

The batting superstar had missed the five-match Test series against England as he was overseas for the birth of his second child.

The long break allowed him to spend much needed quality time with his family and not being recognised on the streets was something that he enjoyed the most.

"We were not in the country. We were at a place where people were not recognising us. Just time together as a family, just to feel normal for two months. For me, for us as a family, it was a surreal experience.

• IPL 2024: His bat does the talking, says Virat Kohli's childhood coach after match-winning performance