‘Tujhe maarne aa gaya, aur tune kuch nahi kiya?’: Ishant Sharma recalls Virat Kohli’s fiery words that led to his ban

When Virat Kohli riled up Ishant Sharma so much that he was banned. (Photo: BCCI)

Virat Kohli is India's most successful Test skipper for a reason. Even with his batting prowess and command of his players, Kohli's affection for every batsman who played for him is remarkable. He knew how to bring out the best in every player.

Kohli knew which nerve to strike, whether it was inspiring Mohammed Shami before the 2018 Cape Town Test or delivering his teammates the once-in-a-lifetime "60 overs of hell's speech." Even while such a consequence is uncommon, this one incident, which was disclosed by an experienced Indian bowler, illustrates how Kohli's overzealous drive has also backfired.

Also Read | Everyone has right to express the way they want: Shaheen Afridi defends Haris Rauf-Sahibzada Farhan's controversial act

During Kohli's first series as India's permanent Test captain, bowler Ishant Sharma recalls being given a one-match ban by the ICC. In the 2014–15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Adelaide Test, Kohli made his debut as India's captain when MS Dhoni was unable to play because of a broken thumb.

But after Dhoni retired from Test cricket, India went to Sri Lanka in June 2015, with Kohli, their new captain, leading the way. After some tense moments involving Ishant and a few Sri Lankan squad members occurred during the third Test in Colombo, the ICC took severe measures against everyone.

Also Read | Asia Cup: India coaching job is protecting players at times of adversity and Gautam Gambhir has ticked that box

"This happened during the 2015 Sri Lanka Test series. Dhammika Prasad was bowling bouncers at me. I took a single and as I was reaching the non-striker's end, I told him, 'You are too slow to hit me on the head'. This is what started it. Then, him and I kept going back-and-forth. But suddenly, Dinesh Chandimal came from third man, and he elbowed me. In the heat of the moment, Ashwin got out, and I ran back to the dressing room – because I had to change my shoes. When I was doing it, I suddenly saw that Ravi Shastri and Sri Lanka's manager were leaving the dressing room. They thought that Dhammika and I had fought with each other. However, Dhammika Prasad followed me all the way into the Indian dressing room," Ishant said on the Raj Shamani podcast.

"Virat knows how to rile me up. I was unaware. That's when Virat told me, 'Woh tere peeche tujhe maarne aa gaya, aur tune kuch nahi kiya? Dhammika Prasad tujhe maarne aaya tha' (He came all the way to beat you, and you didn't do a thing?) Then made me watch the clip where Chandimal elbowed me. And I swear, I went mad. I am usually not that aggressive but that day, my protective mode crept in. By then, my match fee had already gotten deducted. Then I went out to bowl, dismissed three batters and celebrated on their face. And got banned."

Prasad and Lahiru Thirimanne received a 50% match fee penalties, while Ishant and Chandimal received one-match suspensions. Due to his two suspension points, Ishant was unable to play in the first Test match against South Africa at Mohali in November. Although it's never easy to accept something like this, Kohli had a completely different viewpoint.

"I was very happy with the incident when he was batting because it happened at the right time for us - we had to bowl yesterday and they made him angry and it couldn't have happened at a better time for us," Kohli said. "The timing was absolutely perfect and everything fell in place for us as far as being aggressive is concerned. And the way he bowled in the second innings, he didn't concede a boundary for 19 overs. And that's the kind of pressure he created on those batsmen because of one incident. So it had to be controlled but in the end it benefitted us."