India's veteran batsman Virat Kohli was surrounded by controversies at the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It was a tough series for Kohli as he did not have form on his side and was involved in other issues as well.
In the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, Kohli was involved in a physical altercation with Australia's Sam Konstas when he shouldered the young debutant. Former India cricketer Saba Karim recently spoke about Kohli's behavior during the series.
Karim was very critical of Kohli for showing such behavior and asked him to behave like a senior player. He suggested the 36-year-old batsman to show fight and aggression in batting instead of getting into unnecessary trouble.
Saba Karim criticizes Virat Kohli's behaviour
While talking to SportsNext, Saba Karim criticized Virat Kohli's behavior during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. He believes that questionable arbitration decisions should be consulted with ICC officials rather than saying things to the opposition.
“Now I feel this kind of behavior does not suit Virat Kohli. He is a senior player now. I agree there were one or two questionable decisions this time in Australia, but they were not from the Australian umpires. They were from to neutral, referees,” replied Karim.
Karim also felt that Kohli should have thought twice before getting physical with Sam Konstas and the crowd. The former India wicketkeeper felt things got out of hand in the series for Kohli.
“If there is any doubt about the technology as well, that should be discussed with the ICC or the broadcasters and the producers. To behave like this with the crowd and have a conversation like this with Sam Konstas is not right. I feel things are going too away,” he reckoned.
Virat Kohli criticized for showing 'unnecessary aggression'
Saba Karim further suggested Virat Kohli to show his fight on the field with his performance instead of engaging in an on-field showdown with the opposition. He cited the examples of players who showed aggression with their performance.
“If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs, with your performance, taking wickets and winning matches. The unnecessary aggression that we see many times on the field has become too much,” observed Karim.
“Aggression should be through runs or performance as Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy have shown to some extent,” he added.
Virat Kohli Controversies in BGT 2024-25
Virat Kohli was involved in a shoulder collision with Australia's Sam Konstas on the first day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Both players exchanged a few words with each other and had to be calmed down by the umpire and Usman Khawaja.
During the tour, Kohli was also seen arguing with a reporter for filming his family without his consent outside the Melbourne airport. During the fifth Test, he was seen making some gestures to the crowd about allegations of using sandpaper.
The Australian crowd booed Kohli and he kept challenging it after picking every wicket. Coming back to his figures, Kohli has scored 190 runs in five Tests at an average of 23.75. He scored a hundred in the first Test, but his numbers started to decline from the second Test match.