Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann has expressed his shock at Indian commentators – most of whom are ex-cricketers – dishing out excessive criticism on Virat Kohli every time he gets out for a cheap score.
The latest in the series of Kohli’s not-century innings is the Edgbaston Test against England where he could manage scores of only 11 and 20.
While in the first innings, Kohli was bowled off a deflection of his bat after he decided late to leave a ball, in the second innings he received what many are calling an unplayable delivery from England skipper Ben Stokes.
Virat Kohli recorded scores of 11 and 20 in Edgbaston
Kohli had, in fact, looked solid and in control of his shots until that point and had creamed four boundaries already. However, a length ball from Stokes, on which Virat Kohli had gone on the front foot to defend, spat up off the pitch unexpectedly and took the outside edge of Kohli’s bat.
Wicket-keeper Sam Billings got his hands on the ball but failed to grab it completely but Joe Root at first slip was sharp in taking the rebound catch with only his right hand.
You can watch the video here how Kohli was dismissed off a jaffa from Stokes:
An absolute jaffa!!
Rooty’s reactions
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/jKoipF4U01
#ENGvIND
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 3, 2022
This now has further extended Kohli’s century drought, his last one coming in November 2019. His performance since then in Test cricket has taken a significant dip: since the start of December 2019, Kohli averages a mediocre 27 in 32 Test innings with only 6 half-centuries.
Kohli’s another low score was met with severe criticism and doubts and questions from all corners. However, Graeme Swann threw his weight behind the former India captian, explaining that it was an absolute ripper from Stokes that dismissed Kohli.
Swann also expressed great shock at Indian commentators’ “harsh” laments of Kohli’s batting, pointing out that the batsman himself had set such high standards in the past.
“You can say what you want, I don’t care, who is batting in any period of Test history if you can survive that delivery you are very, very lucky. That is unplayable. It’s a lucky catch in the end,” Swann told Sony Sports.
“Regardless, if you are looking to get on the front foot, back foot that ball is a rip-snorter. For an English point of view, I often find that whenever Indian commentators talk about Virat, I always think ‘wow they are quite harsh on him’. The standards are so high for Virat, I thought he was very at ease today,”
Fans rallied behind Swann and his opinion on the ex-Indian cricketers who have been piling censure against Kohli for a while.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
Those ungrateful thugs don’t deserve Virat Kohli https://t.co/UMlYAiljjy
— tanya (@ch3rryw8n3) July 4, 2022
— H Shiva Prasad (@HShivaPrasad4) July 4, 2022
toxic people Finally someone said it. Virat get more respect outside India. https://t.co/lh0fhQ3eP3
— Bhumika (@viratscupid) July 4, 2022
They can’t digest that he is the greatest in the sport
— RK (@Cult2NTR) July 4, 2022
Spitting facts as always. Funny how most of them are ex-cricketers who had to have struggled sometime in their careers too. https://t.co/GGkUMrdTXs
— Sara.
christianstella lovebot (@truesabbatical) 