Veteran Team India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal disagrees with the fact that Virat Kohli has changed with time. According to him, Kohli is still aggressive on the field. He further added that Kohli was always a calm character off the field. Some experts and cricket fans said that Kohli has become much calmer as a cricketer and person recently as well. The man himself has stated that he is more at peace with himself as well.
In an interview on Ranveer Allahbadia’s YouTube channel, Chahal said: “According to me, he is still the same. On the field, he is still the same. Off the field, he was always calm. On the field, if I know that aggression is helping me, I will do it. He doesn’t harm anyone. Look at Australia under Ricky Ponting, they dominated and kept the opposition under the pump. Now, we give it back. They know that if they sledge [India], they will get it back.”
The veteran spinner also credited Virat Kohli for backing him at the start of his stint for RCB when he was the captain of RCB as well. He went on to become the highest wicket-taker for RCB in the IPL. In 113 matches for RCB from 2014 to 2022, he claimed 139 wickets which came at an average of 22.03.
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Chahal recalled: “I played in the very first match of the 2014 season and Virat bhai helped me a lot. There were big names like Muttiah Muralitharan and Shadab Jakati, but I still played the first game. The kind of confidence that Virat bhai showed in me, I got a wicket with the first ball and got the Man of the Match as well. That gave my confidence a boost.”
During the discussion, Chahal also opined on RCB’s inability to win the IPL despite some of the biggest players in the game playing for the franchise over the years.
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“It’s a good question. I tried to find the answer for eight years, but the hunt for the answer continues. Our team in 2016 was the best one. We had Chris Gayle, KL [Rahul] as well. Unfortunately, we lost the final. I felt very bad because we had to win six out of seven matches. We did that. Then in the Qualifier against Delhi, we would have been out if he had lost. We won that game as well. It was a roller-coaster season. We played the final at Chinnaswamy, which we lost by eight runs,” he concluded.
