IPL 2024: ‘Why reply If You Don’t Care About Outside Noise’, Gavaskar Slams Virat Kohli

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at the ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli after his rant against experts, who have been questioning him over his strike rate and struggle against spin in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Bengaluru: After Royal Challengers Bengaluru(RCB) star batter Virat Kohli flayed experts for questioning his strike rate against spin, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has responded in a fierce manner asking why he is replying to the critics if the outside voice doesn’t matter.

Kohli has been in terrific form this season as he has scored 542 runs with an average of 67.75. However, his strike rate was under scrutiny as he had a sluggish scoring rate in some games. After he played a knock of 70 in 44 balls when RCB and Gujarat Titans met for the first time this season, Kohli slammed all those who were questioning him. Reflection on Kohli’s statement, Gavaskar said that the commentators questioned only when his strike rate was, too, low.

“Commentators questioned only when his strike rate was 118. I'm not, too, sure. I don't watch, too, many matches, so I don't know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But, if you come and open and then have a strike of 118 when you get out in the 14th or the 15th over, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different,” Gavaskar told Star Sports ahead of the match between RCB and GT on Saturday.

"All these guys talk about, 'Oh we don't care about outside noise'. Accha? Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don't necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we speak about what is happening," he added.

Earlier, Kohli had said that the criticism doesn’t matter much to him and he plays to take the team towards a victory. "Not really, I think all the people, who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones who love talking about this stuff. But, for me, it's about winning the game for the team. And there is a reason you have done this for 15 years.”

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