Madan Lal says: “Virat Kohli should not have made the remark at this crucial moment”
Former India captain Virat Kohli stated that MS Dhoni was the only person who contacted him after the right-handed batsman resigned as Test captain.
#WATCH | When I left Test captaincy, only MS Dhoni messaged me. A lot of people have my number, but no one messaged me. The respect and connection with him (MS Dhoni) is genuine… neither he is insecure about me, nor I am insecure about him…: Virat Kohli, Indian cricketer pic.twitter.com/kSTqAdfzs5
— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2022
“When I left the Test captaincy, MS Dhoni was the only one among all the cricketers I had played with before who texted me. A lot of people have my number but he was the only one who texted me. It comes from the genuine respect that we have for each other. There is no insecurity from either end in our equation. These things matter. I live my life with honesty and these things matter for me. I just want to say this, if I have to tell someone about their game, I reach out individually. Even if I have to reach out to them, I do it personally,” Kohli told reporters after the match.
Some former cricketers were not pleased with Kohli’s words.
Kohli’s heated statements show that he was deeply upset by the entire captaincy crisis, which saw the BCCI dismiss him as India’s ODI captain immediately after he opted to quit as T20I captain following the World Cup last year. However, it appears that Kohli’s statements were not well welcomed by certain ex-India cricketers.
Sunil Gavaskar pondered what Kohli was expecting and stated it would have been only fair if Virat had identified the persons, and veteran India all-rounder Madan Lal also questioned the timing of the statement. Lal has stated that such statements by Kohli are inappropriate given that the team is competing in a vital competition.
“Virat should not have made such a remark at this time. As you can see, you’re playing vital matches in the middle of a tournament in which you need to qualify for the final. It’s nice to see you back on track. If you are in difficulties, you must work on it whether someone calls or not. He should have mentioned that a few months ago as well. You must tackle it yourself if you are not in the finest of health.There should be no ego clashes here,” Lal told reporters.
Kohli has appeared in fantastic form since returning to top-flight cricket after a six-week break, with scores of 35, 59 not out, and 60 in the present Asia Cup. Slowly but surely, Kohli appears to be regaining his form, and India will be looking for nothing less from their star batter when they face Sri Lanka later, followed by Afghanistan on Thursday, in a quest to secure a spot in the finals.
