[Watch] "You get absolutely hounded" - When Pat Cummins opened up on facing wrath of Virat Kohli fans over misconstrued remark
In an old video that is going viral on social, Australian Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins is heard narrating a tale on how he was hounded by Virat Kohli fans, who misconstrued a remark he had made on the Indian batting superstar. The Aussie pacer recalled that he believed he had paid a compliment to Kohli, wishing that he did not score a hundred, but the cricketer's fans took it otherwise.
35-year-old Kohli is considered a modern-day great. He has amassed 26,733 runs in international cricket in 580 innings, with 80 hundreds and 139 fifties. Both Kohli and Cummins will be seen in action during the ongoing T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.
Meanwhile, a throwback video from Cummins' appearance on The Grade Cricketer Podcast is going viral on social media platforms. In the clip, he is heard explaining how an effort to praise Kohli backfired as he ended up receiving a lot of backlash from the former Indian captain's fans. Explaining what exactly transpired, Cummins says in the video:
"If you live at social media at all, you get absolutely hounded. Like, say anything about Virat Kohli and look out for the next years. I remembered I said something a few years ago. It was actually what, I thought, was a bit of a compliment. You know like 'he's a great player, hope he doesn't score a hundred because he is a gun player'. And then about six months later, when he did score one, my phones blew up. They've got a long memory."
Kohli has an excellent record against Australia in international cricket. In 96 matches across the three formats, he has notched up 5,203 runs, with 16 hundreds and 27 fifties.
Pat Cummins dismissed Virat Kohli in the 2023 World Cup final
Incidentally, Cummins, captaining Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final against India, dismissed Kohli in the title clash. He forced the Indian run machine to drag one back onto his stumps and sent the star batter on his way for 54 off 63 balls. Kohli's dismissal led to a stunned silence in a packed house at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Sent into bat by Australia, India ended up posting a disappointing 240 on the board. Cummins finished with wonderful figures of 2-34, while Mitchell Starc claimed 3-55. Travis Head (137 off 120) then slammed a sensational hundred as the Aussies thumped India by six wickets to be crowned ODI world champions for the sixth time.