BENGALURU: All praise for Virat Kohli, former off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin says the Indian stalwart continues to "walk the talk" with his unmatched energy and intensity despite having retired from Test and T20I formats.
Returning to T20 cricket for the first time since last year's IPL final on June 3, Kohli showed no signs of rust, smashing his 28th IPL half-century (69 not out off 38 balls) to power defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a commanding six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2026 season-opener.
"He walks the talk," Ashwin said on a JioHotstar show.
"It's almost like he's putting on a show for people to see how the game should be played, play it hard and play it the way it's meant to be played. That stood out for me with respect to what Virat did."
Kohli was already in sublime touch coming into the IPL, having scored 93, 23 and 124 in the ODI series against New Zealand in January, where he finished as India's leading run-getter.
The 37-year-old had also topped the charts in the preceding series against South Africa in December, amassing 302 runs, including two centuries.
Ashwin further cited example of his running between the wickets to show how his energy remains extraordinary despite his age and experience.
"I find him quite bizarre at this age. I tell him this during our chats now and then. He was batting on 40-odd, there was a partnership going on, and RCB were coasting.
"He ran through for the first single, stopped there, and the other batter hadn't even reached halfway, but he was already looking for a second. That was a 57-metre boundary on the leg side, and it shows the enthusiasm he still brings to the game," added Ashwin.
The premier Indian off-spinner turned commentator also highlighted the performance of Jacob Duffy, who turned it around after a woeful show in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.
Having endured a tough outing in the T20 World Cup conceding over 10 runs per over and managing just three wickets, Duffy bounced back in style with a dream IPL debut for RCB as he ripped through the Sunrisers Hyderabad top order with figures of 3/22.
He removed the dangerous opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, along with Nitish Kumar Reddy, triggering an early collapse as SRH stumbled at the start before recovering to 201/9, a total that proved below par at the Chinnaswamy.
"When Jacob Duffy was picked at the auction, I was probably the first one to say it was an amazing pick to replace Josh Hazlewood.
"At that time, he was the No.1 T20 bowler. He had also taken a six-wicket haul in a Test match and is right in the prime of his career.
"He has bowled a lot in New Zealand and knows exactly what he is doing. What really stood out is that he can swing the ball both ways, but he didn't try to do that against Abhishek Sharma.
"The first time he bowled full to Travis Head, he got pumped down the ground, a good lesson learned. After that, he stayed away from that length and bowled very good areas.
"Tactically, RCB were superior and he executed those plans beautifully. He was probably the reason the scoring was kept in check. With around 400 runs in the day, it was still a low-scoring game by Chinnaswamy standards," added Ashwin.