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Tag: Virat Kohli

Shaheen Afridi Reveals His Plans In T20 World Cup 2021 Clash Against India

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Pakistan bowler Shaheen Afridi has reaveald that how he tackled the India batting trio of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli at the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. 

Shaheen Afridi was the star performer in the 2021 Men’s T-20 World Cup. The youngster’s opening spell pushed India on the backfoot, Afridi’s new-ball spell proved to be the difference between the two teams as he first trapped Rohit lbw for a first-ball duck in the very first over and then bowled Rahul on three in his following over. And later dismissed Kohli on 57 to restrict the Men in Blue to 151/7 in 20 overs.

Meanwhile, Shaheen said he had a fixed plan going against Kohli while he tried to pitch it up to Rohit and Rahul. In a chat with Cricbuzz, Afridi spoke about the surreal experience from the match that earned him plenty of praise from the global cricketing fraternity.

“The end I was bowling from, the leg-side boundary was smaller, say about 60-65 meter only. If I had bowled straight and fast at him [Virat Kohli], he would have flicked me or pulled me for runs. So I wanted to mix things up and bowl a slow bouncer at him so that it would have been difficult for him to go leg-side.” Shaheen said.

“Luckily for me, the ball gripped and he got out. I admire Virat Kohli a lot, he’s one of the best around. Rohit, Rahul and Kohli are their mainstays and three of the best batsmen in the world. Kohli unki reedh ki haddi hai (Kohli is their spinal cord). And once you get them out, it gets difficult for the middle order. And if one of them bats deep, it gets easier for the batsman coming in later. Since I was getting some swing in that match – and the team anyway wants wickets from me early on – I was trying to pitch it up to Rohit and Rahul and I was able to get both of them out,” he added. 

“It was a great day for me, to be honest. A lot of people watch India-Pakistan matches, including those who don’t even like cricket (laughs). When I look back on that win, I feel very proud. Yes, we couldn’t win the World Cup but we did well in that game against India and I’ll try to give my best even in the next World Cup,” said the Pakistan pacer.

“I was shocked”: Ricky Ponting on Virat Kohli’s decision to step away from Test Captaincy

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was surprised by Virat Kohli when he decided to step down as the captain of the Indian Test team. While Ponting said that Virat Kohli should be proud of his achievements as Test captain, especially the way he prioritized the longest format.

“Yes, it did actually surprise me. Probably the main reason why is I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat during the first part of the IPL before it got postponed. He was talking then about stepping away from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised,” In an interview with ICC, legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said.

Ponting said that Virat was one of the most passionate players to play the test format. Although, Ponting added that he can understand Virat’s decision of stepping down as a Test captain.

“You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realize how passionate he is about that job and the role, and how much he wants the team to win and how much he wants the best for Indian cricket. I was shocked, but then I started thinking about other things, even my own time as captain. I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have,” he added.

“So I think there is potentially a shelf-life for international cricket captains and even coaches. Virat’s been there for close to seven years now. If there’s a country in the world that’s the most difficult to captain, it’s probably India because of just how popular the game is and how much every single Indian loves to see the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, whether they are good or bad. You weigh all those things up,” said Ponting.

Virat Kohli proves rumours that captaincy not doused the fire of ambition in him

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Former Indian captain Virat Kohli on Sunday scored 64th half-century in the 50-over format in 3rd ODI match against South Africa at Cape Town.

Virat Kohli, who looked in full control brought up his fifty off 63 balls in the 5th ball of the 25th over. This is Kohli’s second half-century of the three-match series after he made one in the first game at Paarl. However, he was dismissed for a duck in the second ODI. Yet he proves the netizens that captaincy not doused the fire of ambition in him.

He took 63 deliveries to reach the half-century mark during India’s run chase of 288 and on reaching the mark with a single driven through sweeper cover, Kohli celebrated in a unique manner while pointing towards his wife Anushka and daughter Vamika who were present in the stands at the venue.

Having rarely played a false shot at the Boland Park today, Kohli had increased his fans’ expectation around seeing him score an ODI century after more than two years. It is worth mentioning that Kohli’s last international century had come against Bangladesh in India’s inaugural pink-ball Test match at the Eden Gardens in November 2019. As far as Kohli’s last ODI century is concerned, it had come against West Indies during India’s tour of West Indies in August 2019.

KL Rahul comes up with an epic reply when asked if Virat Kohli energy as a captain was being missed ?

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South Africa managed to win a thrilling final ODI to whitewash India 3-0 in the ODI series. India suffered a heartbreaking four-run loss against South Africa in the third and final ODI here at Newlands, Cape Town.

KL Rahul became only the 4th India captain after Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli to be on the receiving end of a whitewash in an ODI series .This is India’s first series since Kohli’s resignation of capitancy from the 50-overs format. But the new era has not started on a positive note, with India losing the series.

However, Rohit Sharma is the captain of Team India, although he is not a part of this series due to injury. In his place, KL Rahul was given the captaincy for this series. Neither Rahul’s bat played in the series nor could he do anything special with the captaincy. 

After the 2nd ODI in the post-match press conference KL Rahul was asked “whether the India team were missing Virat Kohli’s energy as skipper”? KL Rahul cleverly answered this question. “The energy has been great, it’s been tough on the body staying in the bubbles. We love challenges and we have come short in the first two games, we will look ahead to the third game and try and win that one,”

Yet, India failed to avoid a series whitewash against a South African team in transition despite Deepak Chahar’s scintillating 34-ball 54, losing the third ODI by four runs in Cape Town on Sunday.

‘I wouldn’t have gotten married if I was in Virat Kohli’s place’: Shoaib Akhtar

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Former Pakistan Cricketer Shoaib Akhtar in a recent interview with Dainik Jagran has made a surprising statement about former India skipper Virat Kohli and the pressure of captaincy on the individuals. 

The ‘Rawalpindi Express’ said that if he were in the place of Virat Kohli, he wouldn’t have gotten married to because marriage adds a lot more responsibility to a player’s life. And he thinks responsibilities in private life have an impact on one’s professional career and it was the same case with Virat Kohli.

“I would have not even married if I were in his place. I had just scored runs and enjoyed cricket, these 10-12 years of cricket are different time and doesn’t come again, I am not saying getting married is wrong but If you are playing for India, you would have enjoyed a time a little. Fans are crazy about Kohli and he had to maintain that love he is getting for the last 20 years.” Shoaib Akhtar said.

Talking about Virat’s extraordinary personality and why he quit captaincy, Shoaib mentioned that “Virat captained for 6-7 years and I was never in favour his Captaincy, I just wanted him to keep scoring 100, 120 runs and keep the focus on his batting.”

He again mentioned “As a captain, you have to think a lot. I am not against marriage but I believe play while playing, there shouldn’t be much pressure, play freely, pick up your things and play fiercely. I got married when I retired from the captain. As a Captain, you have to face the media, the brand, all the things which come with it.”

Dale Steyn Cites Bio-Bubbles, Family Reason Behind Virat Kohli Stepping Down as India Test Captain

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Virat Kohli shocked the world by deciding to step down as Team India’s Test captain on January 15. He made this decision after his team’s Test series loss to South Africa.  After relinquishing Test captaincy, Kohli is no longer a captain in any format and would continue to play as a pure batter.

The ex South African pacer Dale Steyn has said that the former would now be able to focus more on his batting and family. As per Steyn, Kohli took this step because of bio-bubbles and to be there for his family.
Dale Steyn has said that one could get to see a better version of Virat Kohli as he no longer has captaincy burden.

“I suppose bubble life can make it really difficult. You take on so much responsibility as a captain, then you have got your family and you’re travelling, it really does boil down to family at the end of the day. I personally think so. Maybe these bio-bubbles and all had a role in it. I mean it really boils down to family for somebody like Virat. He’s got a young family right now,” Steyn told Star Sports on Wednesday.

“He has got a young family right now, captaincy if you’re a single man being a professional sportsman, it’s almost like a selfish thing, we all have to focus on ourselves to be able to get the best out of us and provide the best for the country. But the moment a young family comes in, some other things don’t matter much. Now I think, Virat Kohli has relinquished captaincy, he can focus on his family and then just focus on his batting. You might even see a better Virat Kohli now” Steyn added.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Bangar said on Wednesday that less burden on Virat Kohli will only help the former skipper become more dangerous as a batter. Bangar also highlighted that legendary cricketers in the past, including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, had given up captaincy and gone on to do well in the remaining phases of their careers.

India’s debacle in T20 World Cup had put him under pressure: Atul Wassan on Virat Kohli

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Former Indian all-rounder Atul Wassan has said that he is not one bit surprised about the fact that Virat Kohli gave up the test captaincy of India after losing the test series against South Africa.

In the span of four months, Kohli has relieved himself from leading the Indian team from all formats. First, he stepped down from T20I captaincy in November last year. Ahead of the South Africa tour, the national selectors decided to hand over the complete white-ball captaincy duties to Rohit Sharma and a day after India lost the Test series to South Africa 1-2, Kohli took to his official Twitter handle to announce his decision to quit the red-ball captaincy.

Considering Kohli’s decision, former fast bowler Atul Wassan said that the development does not surprise him at all because after India’s bad show at the T20 World Cup.
“Nothing shocks me. What shocked me was MS Dhoni quitting Test captaincy in the middle of the series in Australia. I think the way things have been going by the last couple of months India’s debacle in the T20 WC there was pressure on him,” Wassan told.

“He is not getting runs. At times he is pointing fingers at other players and as a captain he must do that to egg them on and I totally support him for that but the problem was that earlier he was leading by example but lately the thing is that his batsmanship has come down. “, he added.

Wassan further said that things could have been different had India won the three-match Test series in South Africa. “Every batsman, every player goes through that and it could accentuate that he was captaining all three formats. He also started the conundrum when he said he doesn’t want to do T20 captaincy which was the right decision but I think the board actually took it in a skewed manner and he never expected that he would lose his 50 over captaincy because his goal was to win the World Cup. This is what was missing from his cupboard,” .

“That was avoidable” : Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli’s stump mic outburst

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The Indian cricket team did cross a line in the third Test against South Africa, with the likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and R Ashwin accusing the broadcaster of tampering with the DRS images. Though there’s no denying that DRS could’ve malfunctioned in reviewing the LBW dismissal of Dean Elgar.

However, the Hawkeye element of DRS suggested that the ball would have crossed the stump. The ball had, in fact, landed in the middle of the stumps and hit Elgar’s pad in the middle. Yet, DRS showed the ball, on hitting the pads, would have gone over the stumps.
The incident left the Indian camp furious, with the likes of Ashwin, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli even accusing the hosts’ broadcaster of tempering with the visuals.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar has reacted to Virat Kohli’s outburst on the stump mic during the Cape Town Test, saying it was an avoidable situation and something that the India captain could have prevented. Gavaskar is not happy with the incident either. He believes the stump mic capturing something is one thing but going intentionally near the stumps and saying stuff isn’t good.

When you are playing for your country… when you are trying your best to win, every single moment that you are out there, you can lose your composure and cool. If you say something while you are walking, it’s a different matter, but when you go towards a stump mic you know it is going to pick up stuff then it doesn’t look good so that was something that was avoidable,” Gavaskar said on Sports Today.

“Tempers are lost on a sporting arena. You see any sports – whether it is football, cricket or any other sport – tempers are lost. I don’t think they were trying to insinuate something But if you look at it, how would we Indians feel if an overseas team captain did this went to the stump mic and say something to the television channel covering the series. We wouldn’t accept it,” added Gavaskar.

‘You Will Always be My Captain: Mohammed Siraj posts heartfelt note for Virat Kohli

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India pacer Mohammed Siraj paid a heartfelt tribute to India captain Virat Kohli. After he had stepped down as India’s Test Captain.

On Tuesday Siraj took to Instagram to pay a heartfelt and emotional tribute to Virat Kohli, the captain.  He posted three pictures with him, 1 in the whites and 2 in Royal Challengers Bangalore colours, and stated that Kohli will always be his captain. posted three pictures with captain Kohli, 1 in the whites and 2 in Royal Challengers Bangalore colours, and stated that Kohli would always be his captain. Siraj, who played under Kohli’s leadership in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for RCB, said the former India skipper will always be his captain.

“To my superhero, I cannot be thankful enough for the support and the encouragement that I got from you. You have always been my great brother. Thank you for trusting me and believing in me for all these years. For seeing the great at my worst. You will always be my captain King Kohli @virat.kohli,” Siraj said in an Instagram post.

He has frequently praised Kohli’s assistance with his progression from an inconsistent swing bowler in 2017-18 to one of India’s top red-ball pacers today. While the Hyderabad born will almost certainly never play under Kohli again, they will continue to represent India and RCB together.

Virat Kohli rejects BCCI’s proposal to lead India in his 100th Test Match

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Virat Kohli, on Saturday shocked everyone by stepping down as the Indian Test captain, a day after India’s 2-1 series loss to Dean Elgar’s South Africa in their ongoing tour of the African nation. 

Earlier, the 33-year-old, resigned from T20I captaincy citing workload management as the reason. Then, he is removed from the ODI captaincy as BCCI wanted only one captain for both ODIs and T20Is. And now, Virat Kohli announced his sudden resignation as red-ball captain with immediate effect. Notably, Kohli was recently involved in a tussle with the BCCI concerning his captaincy in white-ball formats. 

The Cricket fraternity is still wondering that BCCI forced to Virat Kohli to step down as the captain of the Indian Test team. Despite having an outstanding record as skipper in the longest format of the game, things weren’t going as Kohli would have liked. However, according to report the BCCI offered a farewell match to Kohli and asked him to lead the Indian squad one last time in his 100th Test match. However, it has been learnt that Kohli refused to accept the offer saying, “One match makes no difference. That’s not how I am”.

This means that his tenure as India’s Test skipper ended with a series defeat. This report further stated that he wanted to give up the pressures and responsibilities that come as captain to focus on batting.