‘Taarif kar raha hai ye bezzti’- Fans react as Kevin Pietersen praises Virat Kohli for his wonderful record against spin

On Day 4 of the ongoing Ashes game at Edgbaston on Monday, June 19, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen praised Virat Kohli. Because of his traditional cricketing skills, the 42-year-old described the former Indian captain as a great player of spin as well. The renowned England batter expressed his thoughts after learning that Kohli, playing 109 Tests for India, had only been stumped once in his Test career.

Kohli got stumped for the first time in his Test career earlier this year during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by Alex Carey off Todd Murphy’s bowling. The 34-year-old did not perform well for Team India in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, scoring 14 and 49 runs, respectively. Rohit Sharma and company were defeated by a score of 209 runs.

Virat Kohli is a wonderful player of spin: Kevin Pietersen

Speaking on Sky Sports, Kevin Pietersen said, “He [Virat Kohli] is a wonderful player of spin, and you sort of understand it because they play spin off the back foot and have such beautiful wrists. You hardly ever see Virat running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he certainly doesn’t sweep, reverse sweep. I mean, you can watch him bat. Mentally, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that.”

Pietersen’s remarks came after former England captain Joe Root was stumped by Alex Carey off Nathan Lyon on Day 4 after playing 130 Tests for the English Lions. Joe Root batted brilliantly in the first Test at Edgbaston. The batsman hammered a magnificent undefeated hundred in the first innings and then backed it up with another solid effort, scoring 46 runs against the menacing Australian attack in the second innings.

Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara praised Virat Kohli for playing risk-free cricket. The Sri Lankan veteran praised the Delhi-born batsman for his ability to stand and deliver, that is, knock the ball into the stands while remaining in the crease. According to Sangakkara, “He [Kohli] is also a kind of IPL mode, isn’t it? A lot of these players are very happy step-hitting from the crease. So, they don’t allow bowlers to bowl on a length, so the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don’t do it anymore. You drop down and work a single. No, just stay in the crease and hit it out of the park. That’s true.”

Here’s how fans reacted to Pietersen’s comments

https://twitter.com/imakkii270/status/1671042825444802563?s=20

https://twitter.com/imakkii270/status/1671042995951648768?s=20

Sarcastic

— Ganguly (@cricketgoa88598) June 20, 2023

Don't agree with this. Virat's spin game just went downhill post 2019

— Naman Thakur (@NaMAn01724075) June 20, 2023

https://twitter.com/ItsHitmanERA/status/1671042057694216197?s=20

https://twitter.com/amee7ing/status/1671044830179504129?s=20

Has KP forgotten the last few years where Kohli has been dreadful against Spin?
Awesome player KP was, horrible pundit tho

— Yash Runwal (@duddalyash) June 20, 2023

https://twitter.com/RahulSh24082787/status/1671042307691515904?s=20