Cricket is a game of form. There will be purple patches and slumps. Talks about form will always dominate cricket discussions. So, when a star player gets a poor run, automatically, the question will be on his form. This is the way! In fact, this has been the way from the start. But not all players or captains will be happy when presenting such a question.
That's what happened on the eve of India's first ODI match against England in Pune. India, under Virat Kohli's able leadership, won both the preceding Test and T20 International series. But as with every win, there were areas of improvement in India's victory march too. Kohli himself failed to score consistently in the Tests.
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Going into the ODIs, India's main concerns were about the batting forms of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan. As it turned out, both the star batsmen managed to arrest their batting slumps and contributed heavily as India registered a 66-run win in the series opener. So, it's all well for Team India as they look to win the series against world champions England.
But a day before the series opener, skipper Kohli found himself crooning then following it up with a very poor choice of word when a journalist asked him a question about Rahul's form. Replying to the question, Kohli said that his team was not going to allow the 'faltu (nonsense)' noise to enter the dressing room.
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"When an individual is going through a tough phase - it's not like he forgets how to play, it's just that mental clarity isn't as good at the time - at that time if you know what things are being said and you're being told you're out of form, then you're bringing in another external factor into your system...It's a simple game: you have to watch the ball and react and hit the ball," Kohli said matter of factly.
But what followed was Kohli showing critics and fans scant respect.
"From the first to the last day of my career, all this outside talk has been nonsense to me. Who says what and why about a player, what's the motive behind it, what's the thinking behind it, it's better that all that remains outside," he added.
Many found skipper behaviour unbecoming of a captain, leading a national team with millions worshipping the cricketers as demi gods. Hours later, former India batsman and popular commentator Sanjay Manjrekar also took to Twitter to share his disbelief.
"Outside talk which Virat calls nonsense is basically public reacting to a public performance. And it’s always been the same- Praise when you do well, critique when you don’t. Virat must learn to accept this age old reality with calmness & maturity. Just like Dhoni did," Manjrekar tweeted.
The second ODI is scheduled for Friday at the same venue.
