Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said in that as an opposing side, it is always better off if you don’t engage in sledging with Indian captain Virat Kohli. Latif was reminiscing India’s 2014 series in Australia in 2014, where Kohli took over the Test captaincy from M.S. Dhoni before the fourth and final Test of the series in Adelaide.
Though India lost the match Kohli’s fighting knock of 141 in the second inning, single handedly brought India closer to the win, while chasing 364 as a target. Kohli had scored 115 in he first inning of the match as well. Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was sledging Kohli throughout the series and Kohli ended up taking Johnson to the cleaners.
“In 2014 series, when Dhoni retired after two Tests. Then there was one Test, in which Virat Kohli scored two tons in each innings. In that match, Mitchell Johnson stepped up to Kohli, and dono ke beech theek thaak gaaliyaa chal rahi thi. Watch that clip, and you will see Kohli’s reaction was not defensive,” said Latif.
“There are some players you don’t mess with, said Latif. Javed (Miandad) bhai, Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar were a few you would be careful against. Today, Virat Kohli is one such player.”
Latif then gave the example of India’s recent T20I series against the West Indies. Kohli was clearly annoyed by quick bowler Kesrick Williams’ signature notebook celebration, which the latter had used on him in a 2017 T20I in Jamaica.
India needed a whopping 208 runs to win and ended up chasing it down with eight balls in hand thanks to Kohli’s 94 off 50 balls. He imitated Williams’ notebook celebration at one point after hitting a six off the fast bowler.
“Recently, in a T20I match against West Indies, a left-arm pacer (actually, it was a right-arm pacer Kesrick Williams) said some words to him. Even though, Kohli does not score too many runs in T20Is, but he went on to play a great innings in that match. There are certain players you don’t mess with during a match,” Latif said.
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With input from IANS