Legendary Indian cricketer, Kapil Dev has made comments on the lean patch of former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli and said that as a former player he has the right to question a player’s form. Kapil has been vocal about his views on the struggles of Kohli, as a result of which he has in the past, received flak for his comments too. But the former India all-rounder has insisted that if players fail to perform as per the expectations, there is only so much they can do to keep others quiet.
During a recent chat with Uncut, Kapil Dev said, “I haven’t played cricket as much as Virat Kohli. But sometimes you may not have played enough cricket but you can look to figure things out. Either that, or we just cannot criticise such great players. We have played cricket and we understand the game and after that, they have to improve their thought process, not ours.”
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He further added, “If you prove us wrong, we will like it. If you don’t score runs, we feel there is some fault. We just see one thing and that’s your performance. And if the performance is not there, don’t expect people to stay quiet. Your bat and your performance should speak, nothing else.”
Adding further, Kapil Dev mentioned that it pains him to see a player of Kohli’s class go this long without a century. With a huge question mark over the former India captain’s lack of runs, Kapil feels it is becoming a huge matter of concern, both for Indian cricket and his fans.
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Explaining it further, Kapil Dev said, “It pains me to see such a big player go through this a long gap (with regards to a century). He is like a hero to us. We never thought we would witness a player whom we can compare to Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag. But then they came, and forced us to compare and now since he hasn’t for the last two years, it is bothering me and all of us.”
After a quiet IPL 2022, Virat Kohli was rested for the home T20I series against South Africa. After a small break, Kohli will return to professional cricket as India will be locking horns with England in the rescheduled fifth Test from last year in Edgbaston starting July 1.
