Former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Virat Kohli for his tirade against cricket experts and commentators who questioned his strike rate before India's T20 World Cup squad was announced.
Virat Kohli is among the leading run-scorers in IPL 2024, but his strike rate, particularly against spin, remains a significant concern. Royal Challengers Bengaluru aim to sustain their playoff aspirations while the Indian star gears up for the T20 World Cup in June. Kohli unleashed a fiery rebuke against his critics.
"Not really, all the people who talk about strike-rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff. For me, it's about winning the games for the team and there's a reason why you've done it for 15 years, you've done this day in and day out, you've won games for your teams, I'm not quite sure that if you haven't been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game in the box. For me, people can talk about their assumptions day in and day out, but those who have done day in and day out, they know what's happening and it's a kind of muscle memory for me now," Kohli said.
Kohli's comments sparked a strong response from Gavaskar ahead of the match against GT at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He argued that commentators only critiqued Kohli when he got out before the slog overs, posting a strike rate below 120. Gavaskar considered such remarks an affront to the expertise of former cricketers working as analysts.
Gavaskar believed that such comments were a direct insult to the knowledge of former cricketers who are working as experts.
"Commentators questioned only when his strike rate was 118. I'm not too sure. I don't watch too many matches, so I don't know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you come and open and then have a strike of 118 when you get out in the 14th or the 15th over, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different. That's different," said Gavaskar
Gavaskar questioned why stars like Kohli, who claim not to care about outside noise, respond to it. He emphasised that those analysing the game speak from experience and observe what happens on the field objectively, without any agendas.
"All these guys talk about, 'oh we don't care about outside noise'. Accha! Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don't necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening," Gavaskar said.
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