In the latest Indian cricket news, star Indian batsman, Virat Kohli who is one of the greatest all time batters to be playing the game currently, has come under the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Batting for his team Royal Challengers Bangalore in a recent Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Kohli’s strike rate was around 118 when he got out in the 14th over. Commentators obviously did not fail to notice that and those that were commentating on that particular match did speak about Kohli’s strike rate of 118.
Considering the caliber, reputation and capability of Kohli as a batter, this particular strike rate is obviously on the lower side since expectations are very high from Kohli. In this scenario, a couple of commentators or more might have spoken critically of Kohli’s strike rate in that innings.
As the biggest cricket star in India today, Kohli is media savvy and is usually alert about what is being said about him. As per aaj ka khel samachar he did not take the criticism lightly and responded in his own way.
He reminded the critical commentators that he's been around for over 15 years through most of which he has done well. He pointed out that it's easy for people in the commentator's box to make judgments about others even if they themselves have not played much cricket themselves or distinguished themselves enough.
Veteran opener Sunil Gavaskar takes exception to Kohli’s retort
Gavaskar had retired from the game when Kohli was not even born and so there is apparently a vast generational gap between the two.
Gavaskar, who had been commentating on the game for a duration equivalent to Kohli’s age is not happy with the way Kohli retorted to commentators who questioned his strike rate as per latest Indian cricket news.
The commentators questioning Kohli’s strike rate are all former cricketers with varying levels of experience, undoubtedly much less than what Kohli has as a player has they are not dumb either.
As commentators they are supposed to comment on the game and that is what they were doing. Since Kohli’s slow strike rate in that match was unusual, they discussed it.
Gavaskar is unhappy with this kind of unnecessary overreaction from Kohli and wondered why he is listening so intently to such comments and then getting into a war of words with commentators. He would be better off ignoring such comments and focusing on his game to try and improve his strike rate in the remaining matches.
Kohli never backs off from a challenge thrown at him
Kohli has always been an emotional player and he has never shied away from expressing his feelings whenever he felt like doing so according to the latest Indian cricket news.
His on-field expressions are all too familiar now and the commentators who questioned his batting strike rate of 118 should not be surprised with his retort.
However, Kohli needs to realize that he cannot afford get affected by such comments because one of the pitfalls of such war of words is that it can defocus him from his game.
Nobody is questioning his place in the Indian team for that one innings where his strike rate was lower than expected. He must take the criticism positively and let his bat do all the talking. He is as fallible as any other human and he knows very well what it means to fall into a slump and what it takes for a great player like him to come out of it. These same commentators had not been critical of him during that tough time and along with Sunil Gavaskar they had defended him by showing confidence in his ability to come out of the slump. They all argued against critics who wanted him rested and maintained that he is too great a player to be dropped for poor form. They said that Kohli will back in style to prove his greatness.
Referral Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aaj-ka-khel-samachar-ignore-critical-outside-noises-just-singh-ag7vc/
AUTHOR: Dev Kumar is an independent geo-political observer, commentator and blogger who tries to look at international issues in relation to India and present a different dimension that has hardly been covered by mainstream experts.
