Former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar has strongly criticized Virat Kohli’s recent outburst against critics who have questioned his strike rate and struggles against spin bowling. Kohli had lashed out at “pundits” after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) match against Gujarat Titans (GT) last weekend.
Gavaskar questioned why Kohli, who has repeatedly stated that he ignores social media criticism, would react to “outside noise.” He also slammed broadcasters for repeatedly airing Kohli’s rant on television.
“That particular post-game interview has been shown on this channel earlier as well, right now, on this particular program it has probably been shown half a dozen times. I hope that Star Sports recognizes that when that is being shown, asking where are the critics, the critics are the commentators. Your Star Sports commentators are the ones from whom the questions are being asked,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Gavaskar’s comments come amid a resurgence of an old video in which he praised former Indian captain MS Dhoni. In the video, an emotional Gavaskar recalled the moment when Dhoni signed his shirt during IPL 2023.
“It was a very emotional moment for me (getting the shirt signed by MS Dhoni). MS Dhoni has done a lot for Indian cricket. If I have 2 minutes to live, I would like to witness Kapil Dev lift the 1983 World Cup trophy and MS Dhoni hit the World Cup winning six and the way he rolled over his bat after hitting the six,” Gavaskar had said.
Gavaskar’s contrasting reactions to Kohli and Dhoni have sparked discussions about the different standards applied to players. Some have argued that Gavaskar’s criticism of Kohli is unfair, given that he has been a vocal supporter of Dhoni in the past. Others have defended Gavaskar’s comments, arguing that Kohli’s outburst was unprofessional and disrespectful to the commentators who have criticized him.
