There was a time when Virat Kohli could be kept quiet by spin bowling. Then last year, in keeping with the Indian team's new direction in T20 cricket, he upped his game when pace was taken off the ball. Kohli began IPL 2025 with an innings full of intent, and on the eve of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's game against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk, there is once again focus on what he will do when he faces R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad.
"He has batted well in the recent past against spin, especially in white-ball cricket," RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik said, "So, I don't want to go too deep into stats. I am not very aware. But if I remember, in the [T20] World Cup finals, he got runs where it mattered. And apart from that, in the Champions Trophy, he had a good tournament second-highest run-getter [for India]. And that doesn't come without playing on spin.
"So, I believe right now, he is batting as well as he has ever done. And you speak to him even today, just now as I came out. He wanted to work on one more shot. At this point of time, to work on one more shot, tells you the hunger that he has in his mindset. He wants to just improve and keep raising the bar. So, he is a special player. And at this point of time, the way I see it, he is batting as confidently and as well as he has ever done in IPL."
The conditions in Chennai haven't always been spin-friendly though. CSK coach Stephen Fleming has previously stressed on wanting to get back their home advantage. His preference remains the same - "if it does turn, great", he said - but he does appear to be at peace with whatever he gets on match day.
"It's difficult," Fleming said. "We don't have much influence, really, on what comes up. Each pitch has a different characteristic. We've found that. So we'll work really hard from ball one to try and work out what we have, trying to get us a team that's pretty well-equipped for all conditions because that's been the key to playing here.
"We do find it's a flat wicket. We've got guys that are good at bowling in those conditions. If it does turn, great. I'm sure we won't get a green seamer, so the other two is what we're looking for."
Fleming also had a theory on why mystery spin is so popular in T20 cricket. "A lot of these players are coming straight out of one season or half a season, two seasons at most, of first-class cricket. So they haven't got a lot of grounding. They haven't got the 10 years of first-class experience, but they're incredibly powerful. So they know how to hit the ball, hit it a long way, but the subtleties of the game is something that you learn over time.
"When you're young and getting these big opportunities, sometimes you haven't had the experience against a wide range of bowlers. So for many, it's coming up against this type of player [mystery spinner] for the first time, and it's a tough stage. But their default position is power, so you still have to be very smart with what you do. But that's why we think players with a little bit of difference make a big difference."