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Salman Butt comments on the current situation going on regarding Virat Kohli
By SMCS - Sep 12, 2021 4:30 pm
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Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has said that Virat Kohli has become a target of a “dirty game” by the Indian media. He added that with a successful Test series in the kitty and an important T20 World Cup coming up to Kohli and this is not the right time to debate on this matter.

rohit sharma
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Salman Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel: “Do you see the timing of this news? I don’t have a problem with what the board thinks, it’s about their own evaluation of who can take their cricket forward… but is this the time to discuss these things? Now there’s talk of Virat Kohli’s captaincy being on the danger line. He’s recently played a series in England, led his team really well, he was being criticized for his team selections but he’s constantly backing his team and in turn the team is responding to him and playing good cricket… the team is at the top in every format and the World Cup is right up front, so such news surfacing in the media is nothing but a dirty game.”

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He also opened up on the captaincy debate between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. While he said that Rohit is a very good captain, he also admitted that Kohli has a decent win percentage across formats as well. However, both of them are best in their own way. While Virat Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain, Rohit Sharma is similar in the IPL.

Salman Butt added: “I have said this before, Rohit Sharma is a very good captain, very successful, but this is not the time to talk about these things… Trophies matter, I agree but see the percentage of the games he has won and how successful he has been around the world. I think this is not the time and the guy has done a lot of good to Indian cricket. This news resurfacing is nothing but bad intent which shouldn’t happen.”

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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Notably, the second phase of the Indian Premier League is all set to begin on September 19 in Dubai. Soon after its completion, the T20 World Cup will also begin as well.

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He again shared: “IPL has its own importance in world cricket. It’s the biggest league. It’s something players prepare for and cricket boards and release their players for. We saw how in the Pakistan-South Africa series, their top players, including the captain, went for the IPL midway after leaving the series… Players get a good financial benefit from this and the boards, too, when they get a series with India.”

“In today’s world everything works on finance, every decision is made considering its financial repercussions. So if it’s happening everywhere, IPL is simply a soft target. It’s his right to say anything about any league or about cricket but in my opinion, it’s simply the biggest league, it matters to the players, to the boards with relations with the BCCI, and a lot of cricket’s revenue is generated from there,” Salman Butt concluded