After India’s 1-4 loss to England, captain Virat Kohli was bound to face a few tough questions. But one of them — a reference to coach Ravi Shastri’s remark of how other teams “had great players” — seemed to have pushed his buttons. A reporter asked whether tags like ‘the best Indian team in the last 15 years’ puts pressure on the team, to which Kohli got agitated.
It was a mistake on both sides. The question and answer both could have been framed better. But this is not the first time a journalist has tried to ruffle Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s feather. This was not Kohli’s first conference, it won’t be his last, till the time he captains the Indian side he will have to face the heat. Kohli should know by now the nature of post-match press conferences, especially after a Test series loss overseas which will give rise to a huge number of questions.
Here’s how people on social media reacted to Virat’s comments:
Show some performance on that pitch out there rather than lecturing to hapless reporters on press conference @imVkohli and @RaviShastriOfc – will u ? 2 out of 3 big series already gone! For Australia it seems 3-0 / 3-1 already buggers
— Devil’s Advocate (@SoumyadeepG) September 12, 2018
The Virat Kohli press conference is such a bore as he keeps on harping about the character of the team, shades of Brendan Rodgers there! Kohli said this team refused to give up unlike other previous teams. Which team is he talking about? #ENGvIND
— Ujwal Kr Singh (@UjwalKS) September 12, 2018
Watched the press conference. It seems @imVkohli has picked up the skillset of bullshiting from the useless lunatic @RaviShastriOfc SHAME! #ShastriOut
— Unapologetically MODItarian (@supstalking) September 12, 2018
@vikrantgupta73 What’s your take on Virat Kohli’s disgusting arrogance towards a Chennai based reporter in the press conference? Media might be unfair to cricketers sometimes but I have never seen any Indian captain talking to a journalist like this.
— Chandan Pradhan (@CPradhan07) September 12, 2018
Sir @vikrantgupta73 just saw the press conference of Virat Kohli, he feels that this team still the best as compared to last 15 years, you think he is not ready to accept the mistakes he & team management did on this tour or still living in dream world? @sports_tak
— akash sharma (@Love_4Cricket) September 12, 2018
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We saw similar outbursts after Champions Trophy 2017 loss as well as Test series loss to South Africa. The 29-year-old has matured as a cricketer over the years—his recent performance (593 runs from 10 innings) against England is a testimony to that—but a little more patience would do wonders to his relationship with the press (if only, it matters to him).
