Shoaib Akhtar Raises Questions On Discrediting Virat Kohli For His Lean Patch
Virat Kohli and Shoaib Akhtar (Image Source: Twitter)
Since 2019, Virat Kohli has failed to get back to his level-best as he failed to score a hundred for India across all three formats. Now, after another failure in the ongoing ODI series against England, questions are getting raised about his continuous inclusion in the playing Xi despite his poor run of form.
Former cricketers like Kapil Dev also questioned Indian selectors for picking up Virat during his so-long lean patch with the bat. Now, former Pakistan pacer, Shoaib Akhtar came up with huge support to Kohli by slamming all his criticisms so far.
“You are just humiliating the guy in the media, to discredit him is not right” – Shoaib Akhtar
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Akhtar said that in recent times, he had listened to many criticisms regarding Virat. He also said people are disrespecting and discrediting Virat after what he did for so many years for India. Former Pakistan pacer said: “I am hearing a lot of criticism about Virat Kohli. It is being said that he should be dropped. Virat Kohli is finished, this is right. There is nothing more left in his career, this is also right and he would not be able to do anything more in his career, this is right, these types of things other people are saying to me.”
He added that he was unable to understand that a person like Kapil Dev questioned the inclusion of Kohli in the Team. “I told them, that Virat Kohli is the greatest player, in the last 10 years, if there has been any greatest player, it is Virat. He has 1-2 bad years, he still has scored runs, just the century has not come,” He said.
“You are just humiliating the guy in the media, to discredit him is not right, I do not know how can one talk about dropping him? Kapil Dev is my senior; I respect him and he has his own opinion. He is a legend; he can voice his opinion. A great cricketer can talk like that. Virat Kohli has 70 centuries and only a great player can score as many runs,” Shoaib added.
Lastly, he said that Virat should focus on his batting only by not concentrating on any criticism, especially on social media platforms. “Virat should focus on his batting, if you do not perform, there is nothing wrong. All these things are happening, these are happening so that you become a bigger cricketer. You should not be scared; you should realize that they are up against a tough cricketer. It is important that you stay at the wicket, the more you stay in the middle, the better it will become for you. You should away from social media and not pay attention to the criticism.” Akhtar concluded.
