Virat Kohli never ceases to surprise whether it is with his decision to give up on his T20 captaincy post the T20 World Cup or with his cheeky reply to a journalist during the post-match press conference after Pakistan walloped India by 10 wickets.
The iconic moment took place when a Pakistani journalist questioned Virat if he would consider dropping Rohit Sharma to make way for Ishan Kishan in the coming games because of the slump in Sharma’s form. Kohli failed to hide his expressions and covered his face with surprise. A visibly shocked Kohli called it a ‘very brave’ choice of question by the journalist and questioned the reporter on his opinion.
The Indian captain pungently asked the journalist to let him know beforehand if he wants him to create a controversy then he would ‘answer accordingly.
“It’s a very brave question. What do you think Sir? What do you think the team (should be?) I played the team I thought was the best. What is your opinion? Will you drop Rohit Sharma from T20 internationals? Will you drop Rohit Sharma? After what he did for us in the last game? Yeah? (smiles embarrassedly) Unbelievable, If you want controversy please tell me before so I can answer accordingly,” said Kohli.
The Indian opener scored a golden duck and was sent back to the pavilion after getting out LBW by a brilliant in-swinging Yorker by Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi.
Rohit Sharma is India’s second-highest scorer in T20I after Kohli.
Earlier, India started on the back foot, losing the toss and then the opposition added more misery to India with Pakistani left-arm pacer, Shaheen Afridi’s early blows, dismissing both openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in his consecutive overs. Thanks to Kohli’s gritty half-century and wicket-keeper batter, Rishabh Pant’s quick fire 39 off 30 balls India recovered well and posted the respectable total of 151/7 in their T20 overs.
In response, Pakistan chased down the target in just 17.5 overs without losing any hiccups as the duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan put an unbeaten partnership of 152 to steal the game for ‘Men in Green.’
