Recently, the West Indies fast bowler Kesrick Williams has gone on to reveal the story behind the sledging incident that took place between him and the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli during a T20I match last year in Hyderabad. Kohli had imitated Williams’s famous notebook celebration, gesturing that he had ticked off the pacer’s name from his list, as Virat had smashed the pacer for a six during India’s 208-run chase.
The India captain had smashed his T20I career-best knock of 94 at an astonishing strike rate of 188 and helped India register a comfortable win over the visitors.
Williams had celebrated in his own style after dismissing Kohli in a T20I match in Jamaica in 2017 which the Indian stalwart remembered and made sure to remind the West Indian about it last year.
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Talking about the banter during a chat with Firstpost, Kesrick Williams recalled, “In the first game, when Kohli walked in to bat, he walked straight to me and he was like ‘Hey, you got me in Jamaica the last time you bowled against me, it’s not going to happen here’. He started saying stuff that I really don’t want to repeat. He started saying all sorts (of things), I am like ‘Yo mate, can you just back (off)’.”
He further elaborated, “I was walking back and he was at the non-striker’s end and he’s like ‘This is not going to happen today, I am not going to make you get me out today, never, never you are going to get me out today’. I am like, ‘mate, can you just zip your mouth and bat? Just bat, just play the game, and please leave me alone’. He finished the game and wrote me up in his notebook, and got on with his antics. He won the game, fair enough.”
Virat Kohli also picked Kesrick Williams during the flight to Thiruvantampuram as well.
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Recalling the flight incident, Kesrick said, “I was in the economy class and he was in the business class, he is looking back, watching me and smiling and he’s making a gesture. I am like ‘Yo, I’m going to dismiss you in the next game like for real’. I said, ‘the next game it’s going to be me and you’. Because I had him in my mind now. I am like you are not going to beat me again, never in cricket. This is not going to happen again.”
Williams also recalled that Kohli tried every bit to get under his skin in the next match at Thiruvananthapuram as well.
Kesrick Williams said, “In the second game, I was on the fine leg boundary and he’s sitting there, just staring at me and was like ‘Kesericcccc’. I am like I can’t wait for this guy to come and bat. A wicket falls and I am like I am really ready for this guy to come in because I want to get this guy out so badly tonight. When he came to bat, he didn’t say much to me. And I got him out. And I could remember he did a celebration in a Test series where he pinned his lip.”
Williams also added, “And when I dismissed him, the whole crowd went silent and I just told the guys, ‘Relax, let’s keep it silent and let’s just applaud the legend and let him go off. It’s fine. He’s gone. Let him go’. I just pinned my lip and walked back. No celebrations for him. I don’t want to celebrate. Let him go.”
