"Most biased cricket analyst ever." - Furious Virat Kohli fans slam Indian legend Kapil Dev for his comments on star batter
Former Indian captain and World Cup winner Kapil Dev has made a bold statement about Virat Kohli's future in India's T20I team. The 33-year-old has arguably been one of the modern-day greats but has suffered a rough patch of form of late.
Kohli and a few other big names like Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shreyas Iyer were rested for the first T20I against England after playing the Edgbaston Test last week.
However, with these five back in the main squad for the remaining T20Is, there were questions on who India would leave out to accommodate Kohli. Kapil Dev has pointed out that if a world-class off-spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin can be kept on the bench in the Test against England, then why not Kohli?
This is what the Indian legend said on this matter while talking to a news channel on Saturday, as quoted by PTI:
"Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing XI. If World No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once-upon-a-time) World No. 1 batter can also be dropped."
Kapil Dev wanted to suggest that reputation should no longer be prioritized over current form and performance. However, this did not go down well with some passionate Kohli fans.
They believe Kohli is arguably India's best T20I batter and his record speaks for itself. These fans took to Twitter to slam Dev for his comments. Here are some of those tweets:
Trying hard to not say something about Kapil Dev because well I respect him. Hopefully he doesn't go down the Gavaskar and Ganguly line
Is Kapil Dev overrated?
yes โ 100%
no 0%
7.7B votes โข Final results
I freaking donโt understand why people are putting question on his T20I selection? Even the like of Kapil Dev ? Heโs averaged 70+ last year and hasnt done anything wrong. Such a big disrespect to a person whoโs served us big time. twitter.com/mufaddal_vohraโฆ
So now Kapil dev has nothing over King Pandya
Virat has performed for the last 10 years in T20is, his recent numbers in T20is are good too..why are there talks of dropping him by ex cricketers, news sites..If you really want to drop someone to accommodate xyz drop your captain who performs once in a blue moon
Kapil Dev without Zimbabwe https://t.co/zI1irolBTu
Not even a debate now https://t.co/UIt9DAulaZ
@TheCricPerson Did not expect that from Kapil Dev. Anyway just cannot compare Apple to Oranges. Virat is a front line top order batsman who can bat 20 overs if needed whereas in Ashwins case he can bowl maximum 4 overs from 20 overs. Prime reason cannot be compared . Fielding another aspect.
OVERRATED KAPIL GRANPA
Virat Kohli in last 12 innings in T20is:
Runs - 493.
Average - 61.62.
Strike Rate - 135.43.
Fifties - 6.
NICE CRICKET KNOWLEDGE FOR YOU
@therealkapildev
Kapil is the most biased cricket analyst ever. Very Harsh on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after doing that much for team India, on the other hand never Criticized MS Dhoni after his failure in batting.
Virat Kohli, Pant, Bumrah included in Indiaโs squad for 2nd and 3rd T20Is
Here's a look at India's squad for the second and third T20Is against England, to be played on July 9 and 10 respectively.
Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik