‘Don’t tease Virat Kohli,’ Amitabh Bachchan warns Windies bowlers after 1st T20I
IND vs WI: Kohli smashed the Windies bowler Kesrick Williams for 23 runs in the 16th over and also took time out to mock the pacer with his trademark “notebook” celebration after hitting him for a six.
Virat Kohli grabbed all the headlines after his stupendous innings in the first T20 international against West Indies at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. Kohli scored an unbeaten 94 runs to power India to a 6-wicket win over the Windies and gave his country a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Kohli struck 6 sixes and 6 fours, and despite wickets falling on the other end, he maintained his composure to see the match through.
This is was incidentally Kohli’s highest individual score in T20Is, surpassing his previous best of 90. However, there was a moment when Kohli showed the competitive side of his game. Kohli smashed the Windies bowler Kesrick Williams for 23 runs in the 16th over and also took time out to mock the pacer with his trademark “notebook” celebration after hitting him for a six. This was Kohli’s reaction:-
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Bollywood superstar and legend Amitabh Bachchan was also left in awe of Kohli’s performance and lauded the Indian captain for winning the match for his country. Bachchan also warned the bowlers not to tease Virat by using an analogy from his cult movie ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’.
“Yaar, how many times I have told you this, don’t tease Virat, but you did not listen to me, now see he gave you a perfect response, look at West Indies’ face, how much he rattled them (with due respects to Anthony Bhai),” Bachchan tweeted in Hindi.
Virat was also quick to acknowledge Big B’s tweet as he said, ‘Haha love the dialogue Sir. You’re always an inspiration.’
After the match finished Kohli explained why he chose to imitate Williams during the match. He said that cricket is all about playing hard, but in the end, it is important to have respect for your opponents. Williams had given Kohli a ‘notebook-style’ goodbye in 2017 after taking his wicket and Kohli chose to give it back to him.
“No, it is not the CPL. It happened to me in Jamaica when he got me out so I thought I would tick a few in the notebook as well but all good, smiles out there, in the end, that’s what you want to see, good competitive cricket but at the end of the day we shake hands, that’s what cricket is all about, play hard but at the end have respect for your opponents,” Kohli said at the post-match ceremony.
India will have a chance to seal the series when they face West Indies in the second T20I on Sunday, December 8.
