Last year at Hyderabad against West Indies, Virat Kohli played one of his great knocks in the shortest format. The Indian captain initially struggled in that innings but when he settled down he got his mojo right and owned the match. He especially had to prove a point to Windies bowler, Kesrick Williams who had earlier given him a send-off in a T20 match.
Kesrick Williams dismissed Kohli and followed it up by performing his trademark ‘notebook’ celebration. Meanwhile, Kohli remembered that and gave Williams a taste of his own medicine as he took India home in a tense run chase. Recently the medium-pacer narrated the entire episode that took place between him and Kohli that entertained everyone.
Williams stated that as soon as Kohli came out to bat he had his eyes on him and wanted to dominate him. The duo even almost had a collision in the middle by which Kohli wasn’t impressed and gave a mouthful to Williams.
Later on, Kohli let his bat do all the talking and later on smashed the Windies bowler to all parts of the ground. He hit his trademark short-arm jab for six and celebrated by doing his own ‘notebook’ celebration which had everyone in splits.
Kesrick Williams narrates ‘Notebook’ episode with Kohli
“In the first game, when Kohli walked in to bat, he walked straight to me and he was like ‘Hey, you got me in Jamaica the last time you bowled against me, it’s not going to happen here’. I was like this thing happened in 2017, this is 2019, this guy really studied this thing? I was like I can’t believe this guy,” Williams told Firstpost.
“So I bowled a ball, someone tucked it on to the leg side and I was running for the ball but he was running for a single and I almost butt on him so I stopped and let him pass, and then he looked at the umpire and was like ‘what’s going on?’, I am like mate, I am sorry I didn’t spitefully do it, I didn’t try to run into you. And from there he started. He started saying stuff that I really don’t want to repeat”, Williams added.
“He started saying all sorts of things, I am like ‘Yo mate, can you just back (off)’. I was walking back and he was at the non-striker’s end and he’s like ‘This is not going to happen today, I am not going to make you get me out today, never, never you are going to get me out today’. I am like, ‘mate, can you just zip your mouth and bat? Just bat, just play the game and please leave me alone’. And he said some stuff”.
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“He finished the game and wrote me up in his notebook, I don’t know what notebook he had but he wrote me up in it and got on with his antics. He won the game, fair enough”, Williams said further about his epic episode with Kohli.
Meanwhile, Kohli in the end fittingly hit the winning runs by hitting a six off the bowling of Williams. In the post-match presentation, the Indian captain admitted that he had a score to settle with Williams after what had happened between them in 2017.
The Windies bowler dismissed Kohli in the second T20I but in the series decider, Kohli stormed back again and commanded him and helped India clinch the series 2-1.
