Virat is a very instinctive player – Freddie Wilde on RCB star’s explosive approach
Virat Kohli once again finished as the leading run-scorer for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they lifted their second IPL trophy in two years. Kohli smashed 675 runs at a stunning strike rate of 165.85 in IPL 2026, leading the charge for the Royal Challengers.
RCB’s team analyst, Freddie Wilde, opened up in an exclusive interview with the Quint on how Virat Kohli has often relied on his instincts to deliver the payload.
Wilde also shed some light on how instincts have somehow often aligned with the data which has been a key driver for the former RCB captain throughout his glistening IPL career.
Freddie said, “Virat is a very instinctive player, but he also watches more cricket than he probably cares to admit. He is extremely plugged in to what's going on and has an exceptional understanding of the game through his own experience. If we get on the bus back from training, he’s often immediately pulling the game up on his phone.”
He further added, “The combination of that innate understanding and the fact that he absorbs as much of the game as he can all goes into his own brain. Often, he notices things that later show up in the data. For example, this season there were specific spin bowlers who drift the ball in the opposite direction to what you might expect. That’s something I can flag using ball-tracking data, but he picks it up naturally and shares it in the meeting.”
Underlining how that makes the meetings between Wilde and Kohli extremely insightful, the former said, “This makes our meetings quite powerful. You have me presenting organized visual information and insight, and then someone like Virat contributing and endorsing or adding to those points. I've talked elsewhere about how RCB is data-informed, not data-driven. We pride ourselves on combining data and human instinct, and the combination of me providing information and Virat providing his personal experience is really powerful.”
