Kyle Jamieson reveals the real story about what happened with Virat Kohli at RCB
Kyle Jamieson has opened up on his now famous interaction with Virat Kohli, refuting reports that the Indian skipper asked him to bowl with the Dukes ball during IPL 2021.
The story grabbed headlines in the build-up to the World Test Championship final, with Dan Christian detailing how Virat Kohli had cheekily asked Kyle Jamieson to bowl to him with the Dukes ball in the nets.
But Kyle Jamieson recently set the record straight. Speaking to Sporting News, he explained how the interaction wasn’t as interesting as it was made out to be:
“No, it wasn’t so much him asking. I think it was Dan just sort of adding some stuff for a good story. We were just talking about it at the start of the IPL with the cricket coming up with our UK tour and theirs as well and I mentioned that I had some Dukes balls, he had some Dukes balls as well.”
Elaborating further, Kyle Jamieson revealed the conversation he shared with Virat Kohli. He reiterated that the Indian skipper wasn’t trying to slyly get him to bowl to to the right-handed batsman. He added:
“He just said look at the back end if we want to do some training, we'll do that but there was no specificity around me bowing to him or, or giving him a look, but whether he was insinuating something that’s something he could tell you but obviously quite a funny story that’s unfolded.”
Kyle Jamieson coy on whether RCB experience helped him get the better of Kohli
Kyle Jamieson had a stellar World Test Championship final, with the all-rounder winning the Man of the Match accolade for his performance.
He dismissed Virat Kohli in both innings at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, with Jamieson admitting it was entertaining to come up against his IPL skipper:
“Yeah, it was good, obviously, just being in the change room with him for six or so weeks was pretty cool. He's a world-class player and just to spend time observing how he operates and how he goes about things both on and off the field was pretty cool and you know it's nice just to be able to be friendly out in the middle even just having a bit of a laugh and a joke, while the game was going on."
While many feel Kyle Jamieson’s time at RCB helped him get the better of Virat Kohli, the Kiwi pacer wasn’t too sure whether that was the case:
“There wasn't too much specificity around in there having a game but yeah just nice to obviously have that relationship with someone I guess of his stature in the game. I don't know if that helped specifically around different queues and stuff but wasn't something that I necessarily contemplated."
Jamieson added:
"I think anytime you get to spend time with different world-class guys you sort of grow in confidence, you learn and become a bit more, I guess, comfortable, we come up against different guys so yeah, certainly, I guess from that perspective."
Kyle Jamieson has stayed back in England following his World Test Championship heroics, with the lanky pacer featuring for Surrey in the T20 Blast.