‘Virat Kohli wasn’t sidelined during tough times’ – Veteran PAK batter expresses shock as he gets sidelined from domestic cricket

Virat Kohli is one of the greatest players in the current era. Even though he had a bad patch for the major part of last year, he is now back to his best since the Men’s Asia Cup last year. Meanwhile, former Pakistan cricketer, Umar Akmal has been sidelined from his domestic side. He got to know about this from a reporter.

After getting to know this, the right-hander expressed his displeasure and urged the journalists to take the names of those people who didn’t want him to play. The 32-year-old added that he doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment and the PCB’s role is support its players

“I feel very ashamed that Raza said that in such a straightforward way. He should’ve taken names of people who called or sent chits saying that I shouldn’t be played. I’ve given so much for Pakistan, I don’t deserve this treatment. PCB’s role is to support their players during tough times,” Akmal stated.

Virat Kohli wasn’t sidelined during his bad patch: Umar Akmal

The former Lahore Qalandars player in the Pakistan Super League further cited Kohli’s example. The former said that Kohli wasn’t sidelined and was backed by the Indian Cricket Board even when he wasn’t performing.

“A big example for this is Virat Kohli. He wasn’t sidelined when he couldn’t perform. They continued to play him here and there, he wasn’t told that your cricket is over. I’ll give credit to the Indian cricket board that they supported him,” said Akmal.

Apparently, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) s going through wholesale changes in its system in the last few months. Out of nowhere, Ramiz Raja was sacked from the board chairperson post, and replaced by Najam Sethi. Apart from this, the chief selector, Mohammad Wasim was sacked and replaced by an interim committee led by Shahid Afridi. Notably, the tenure of the interim selection committee ended and former cricketer, Haroon Rashid became the chief selector.