An aggressive Virat Kohli giving the opposition players a piece of his mind after being sledged is a treat to watch for many of the fans, but there is no denying that the India captain has also faced widespread criticism for his on-field conduct from several former players and pundits.
A few months ago, the whole of Australia had targeted him for his behaviour in the Border-Gavaskar series. Kohli did not refrain from giving the visiting players a piece of his mind whenever he got a chance which did not go down well with the Australian media as it ended up calling the Indian star ‘classless’, ‘Donald Trump of cricket, ‘childish’ and many more names.
Well, another eminent cricketing personality, David Lloyd has joined the bandwagon which does not like Kohli’s aggressiveness on the cricket field. The former England cricketer-turned-commentator feels that the India batsman does not hold back on the cricket field to hog all the limelight.
“I’ve been watching India v Australia and I’ve detected that young Mr Kohli has a lot to say when a wicket falls,” Llyod wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
Lloyd’s comments have come on the back of the incident that took place in the second match of the ongoing five-match series against Australia. Kohli had stolen a quick single when a tired Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade took his eyes off the ball. The pair was then involved in a heated exchange before Kohli was seen giving a fired-up sendoff to Wade.
“He seems to have a lot to say to the batsmen, I’m not sure I’m agreeing with all that. He likes a bit of camera work and he likes a word with the batsman who has just been dismissed. No, rein your neck in, lad,” the English commentator added.
Interestingly, former Australia pacer Stuart Clarke has backed Kohli in the whole incident.
“He (Wade) misfielded one. Whether the Indian batsman knew he was injured or not was probably a secondary question,” Clarke had said.“It’s one run. Is this the biggest issue this team has got? If I’m Matthew Wade and I’m Marcus Stoinis — and full credit to him for standing up for Matthew Wade — I’d be worrying about my own cricket, rather than all this other stuff. This is piddly crap.”