Virat Kohli is loved and adored by fans across the border in Pakistan. The Indian captain enjoys a fan following in Pakistan even more famous than some of their players. Even past cricketers of Pakistan often commend Kohli and the entire Indian team on various digital platforms. The most prominent of them all being Shoaib Akhtar who doesn’t hesitate in acknowledging the brand of cricket India plays now under Kohli.
However, appreciating Indian cricketers when you are from Pakistan can be a double-edged sword. As many critics bash Shoaib Akhtar for continuously praising the Indian team and Kohli even more than his cricket team. In a recent interaction with Cricket Pakistan, Akhtar was asked about people criticising him for often applauding Indian cricketers.
Meanwhile to which Akhtar in own style bashed his critics and introduced them with some basic stats of Virat Kohli. Akhtar admitted that Kohli is presently one of the top cricketers in the world.
Shoaib Akhtar Bashes Critics for slamming him for praising Virat Kohli
He deserves all the praises in the world and it is very strange when people criticise him when he praises Kohli and his team. Akhtar added that world-class players like him should always be appreciated in his country regardless of he is from India as there isn’t a player like him in Pakistan.
Akhtar asked, “Why should I not praise Indian players and Virat Kohli? Is there any player in Pakistan, or all over the world, which comes close to Kohli?”.
“I don’t know why people are angry, they should go look at the stats first before criticising me. Do they want to keep the hatred in mind, that just because he is an Indian, we will not praise him?” he further said.
“Kohli has 70 international hundreds right now. Who else has this many hundreds right now in international cricket? How many series has he won for India? Should I not praise him then?” Akhtar said.
“This is very strange. We all can see he is the biggest batsmen in the world. He and Rohit Sharma are performing all the time. Why shouldn’t we praise them?” Akhtar concluded.
Moreover, there’s no denying that Virat Kohli has played a pivotal role in making Indian cricket a powerhouse in world cricket. Plus his ability to lead from the front with the bat and win matches for India across all formats also makes him the best batsman in the world.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli will return to action in the upcoming IPL 2020 where he will be leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
