After Virat Kohli claimed that only MS Dhoni had texted him following his withdrawal as captain, Sunil Gavaskar rebutted with his own question.
After Virat Kohli claimed that only MS Dhoni had texted him following his withdrawal as captain, Sunil Gavaskar rebutted with his own question. Sunil Gavaskar has some questions for Virat Kohli. A day ago, Kohli said that MS Dhoni was the only cricketer he played with who messaged him after he quit being captain. He also said former players should have helped him directly instead of telling the world about it on TV.
“What message does he want? Was it encouragement? After quitting captaincy, what encouragement do you want?” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
But first, to give you some background, here’s what Kohli said: “When I left Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person, with whom I had played previously; that was MS Dhoni. Many people have my number. On TV, people give lots of suggestions, and people have a lot to say. But none of the people who had my number sent me a message.”
Gavaskar’s views
Gavaskar was interested in what message Kohli was trying to send. “What message does he [Kohli] want? Was it encouragement? After quitting captaincy, what encouragement do you want? Captaincy chapter is over, end. Now show your total focus on the cricketer role. As a captain, you would be worried about all players. When you are no longer the captain, you can concentrate on your specialty,” he expressed.
Gavaskar also gave an example of what he did on the day he gave up being captain for the last time in Australia in 1985. “I also quit captaincy. Madan Lal (former player who was Gavaskar’s co-panelist on the TV show) was there with me, the evening after the world championship of cricket. We all met, hugged each other, and celebrated winning the trophy. Apart from that what message do you want? I don’t know. After quitting captaincy, I played on with the same team-mates. Team camaraderie was great, same. We had great fun,” Gavaskar said.
Who’s what Kohli pointing at?
Gavaskar also had something to convey about what Kohli said the day before. “If you give the suggestions in front of the world, it has no value for me. If it is for my improvement, you can talk with me one-on-one, (tell me) that I genuinely want you to do well. I live life with a lot of honesty, so I can see through such things,” Kohli had said. Gavaskar replied to that by saying that it’s easy to figure out who was being talked about. Gavaskar thought that the alleged former player was someone who had played with Kohli in this case.
“Which former player is going on tv and talking – the one who played with him – we can understand who he is pointing to. Who is on TV and who isn’t we all know. But if Kohli is pointing towards that person, then you have to go ask him – why didn’t you send a (direct) message or whatever.”
Gavaskar said at first that it was hard to say anything because it wasn’t clear who Kohli was talking about. “It’s difficult to say anything. If he had taken names, then you can go ask that player why didn’t you contact? But what I heard was he mentioned no one apart from Dhoni texted him after he quit Test captaincy. We don’t know what message that was.”
Madan Lal’s take
When Gavaskar’s answer was over, Madan Lal took over. He said that Kohli shouldn’t have said that before a big game because it can take the team’s attention away from the game.“He should not give comments like this. It’s good you are back in form but you have to approach players when you are in difficulty. Not bring ego into this. When I was out of form, I would ask. He could have said this (about help) a few months back,” Madan Lal said.