The IPL 2023 is being closely followed - not only the matches but also what happens after the matches. The incident involving Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Naveen-ul-Haq for example. Royal Challengers Bangalore star Kohli's altercation with Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gambhir and player Naveen got wide publicity. Then, after Delhi Capitals' first leg match against RCB, Kohli missing a handshake with DC Director of Cricket Ganguly raised all kinds of speculation. Then again, the duo's handshake after the second leg of the two teams match also made the headlines.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri was also asked the same thing about the attention that camera gives the cricketers even after the game is over. Shastri gave a very insightful answer.
"After the sequence of events last week, someone like a Kohli, someone like a Dhoni...Dhoni knows, he's a pro, that there is a camera on you and that is because you guys deserve it after what you guys contributed to the game. There will be one camera on you, like there was on Sachin Tendulkar every time he played the game. Remember once the game is over, during the game you know it's there all the time, the camera is on you all the time till you get into that dressing room where the camera cannot enter. You need to be careful about what you do, in fact it's like you are being flagged off. If you have that in your mindset just like bowling, batting, if you have one thing in your mindset...camera, and once the game is over, you will be fine. You can get a lot of brownie points using that camera, if you are smart," Shastri said on ESPNCricinfo.
Shastri in the same interview also talked about kohli's strike-rate in the IPL 2023. "Once you gain tempo, don't change, don't worry about the others. That will be my message to Virat. Let them do their job. In a T20 game, you don't need that many batsmen. If you are hot keep that going. Prime example of that was Phil Salt. You saw the way he batted. Once he got into the groove he didn't let go," he said.
"It took the pressure off the other batsmen. Having said, even they were hammering whether it was Marsh or Roussow. So that is something that could be there from Virat's point of view. If he gets going don't change your tempo, try and up the ante,"