Pakistani star batter Ahmed Shehzad has opened up on his bond with Indian batting juggernaut Virat Kohli. Shehzad, who last featured for Pakistan back in 2019 against Sri Lanka, is a huge admirer of Kohli. Since then he has been sitting on the sidelines of cricket. The 31-year-old Pakistan's top-order batter has been amongst the finest batters for Pakistan and has amassed 2605 runs in ODIs, 982 runs in Tests and 1471 runs in the shortest format of the game.
In his recent statement Shehzad lavished praise on Kohli and went on to say that his best is yet to come.
"We share a mutual respect for each other. Whenever I need any advice regarding cricket, he has been kind (to help me out). I really respect him as a player. He has changed himself dramatically. When he burst onto the scene during the U-19 World Cup, he was a bit chubby. But the way he has transformed himself, not just from the cricketing aspect, it is commendable. He took India to new heights in Test cricket. I haven't seen someone who has adapted so quickly. I feel, his best is yet to come," Shehzad said on Nadir Ali's podcast.
Kohli led the Indian team to the pinnacle of the ICC World Rankings in all the three formats during his captaincy stint. After handing over the captaincy baton to Rohit Sharma, Kohli went through a lean patch but the batting maestro resurrected and showed the world why he is considered the best batter of this generation.
Meanwhile, Shehzad broke his silence on the dropped catch appeal during the ODI against Sri Lanka in 2015. He said his eyes were closed and he didn’t know if the catch was taken.
“It was an error of judgment from my side. I thought the catch was taken. I was quite confident that the ball got stuck here (shows elbow) and it was there throughout. If you watch that video from the start, the impact came here (shows elbow again). My eyes were closed, and you don’t really know if the catch has been taken,” Shehzad added.
Ahmed Shehzad further went on to say that he didn’t appeal for a false catch and he wouldn’t even think of it because, with cameras all around, there was no fun of it. He elaborated: “No, no, I promise I didn’t know. It is not possible that you know it is not out and still you would appeal with 180 cameras watching. You cannot just sneak away like that in front of the camera. Errors are a different thing, but you cannot sneak away with a false catch.”
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