Dubai [UAE] : Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday lashed out at “spineless” people and said that making fun of people has become a source of entertainment for some, which is actually a disappointment. Pacer Mohammad Shami was subjected to online abuse after India suffered defeat against arch-rival Pakistan on Sunday in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. As soon as the match ended, fans on Instagram and Twitter passed derogatory statements on Shami. “I will say a pathetic thing that a human being can do (attacking on someone’s religion). Every one has right to voice their opinions and what they feel about a certain situation. And I personally never ever thought of discriminating against someone over their religion. It is very sacred and personal thing for every human being,” Virat Kohli said in the pre-match press conference. “People take out their frustration and have no understanding about what we do in the field. They have no understanding that someone like Mohammad Shami has won India ‘n’ number of matches. He is our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah when it comes to making an impact in the game. If people can overlook that and his passion for the country, I honestly don’t want to waste any minute of my life on them. Our brotherhood cannot be shaken,” he further said. “Well, there is a good reason that we are playing on the field and not some spineless people on social media that have no courage to speak to any individuals in person and hide behind the identities and go after the people through social media. Making fun of people and has become a source of entertainment in today’s world which has become so unfortunate and so sad to see because this is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at and this is how I look at these people,” Kohli added. “We as individuals understand what we want to do on-field and strength of character and mental toughness we have and precisely what we are doing what we doing on-field and none of these people is even in the vicinity to even imagine doing something like that. They don’t have the courage or strength to do that and that is how I see things. And all this drama that has been created outside is purely based on people’s frustration, their lack of self-confidence, their lack of compassion and hence they find it so amusing to go after people.” “We as a group understand how we need to stick together, how we need to back individuals, how we need to focus on our strengths. People on the outside portray it that India can’t afford to lose the game, that’s none of our business because we play sport and we know how sports work. So what people think outside is no value whatsoever in our group,” he explained. India and New Zealand will lock horns against each other in the Super 12 stages of the World Cup on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both sides will enter the contest after suffering a loss against Pakistan. “Not one game is more important than other, every game of cricket is important and so will be the case in the next game,” Kohli said.
T20 WC: Need to be motivated to counter Boult, says Kohli
India skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday said that the batting lineup needs to be motivated to counter Trent Boult’s pace and swing in the T20 World Cup game against New Zealand. India and New Zealand will lock horns against each other in the Super 12 stages of the World Cup on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both sides will enter the contest after suffering a loss against Pakistan. “We obviously will come up against some quality bowlers in this competition and the intensity which this tournament operates at is very different. So we know that we have played against these individuals, it is not something out of the ordinary that is going to come our way. It all depends on how we take the field mentally and how we counter it if Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us then he is motivated to do so and we need to be motivated to put pressure on him and counter that,” said Kohli while replying to an ANI query during a virtual pre-match press conference. “That is how the game goes, we understand what we need to do. Not thinking about other scenarios is the key to batting in pressure situations,” he added. Talking about the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kohli said: “I do not want to single out any individual. As a bowling group, we failed to take wickets and we understand that can happen in the sport. It is not a guarantee that every time you take the field, you would not be able to pick a wicket. These are the same guys who have done the job for us, we understand where it went wrong against Pakistan.” “We were outplayed and you need to accept that as a professional cricket team, without any excuses and we will give no excuses going ahead. I am going to single out any individual, we lost as a team,” he added. The Men in Blue skipper also admitted that the toss is becoming a big factor in the ongoing World Cup. “Yeah, it will continue to be a big factor and that is the nature of the tournament. You can look at the situation in two ways, you can bank too much on the toss and you can challenge yourselves as a team that even if you lose the toss, you are good enough to bowl or bat at any situation. Two-three overs can change the course of the game, for us, our only focus is how those eleven individuals are placed mentally,” said Kohli. “It has been a long break for us, we have waited a long time and we are just itching to go out on the park,” he added. Talking about the dependency on Jasprit Bumrah, Kohli said: “Jasprit is the best all format bowler in the world, precisely the reason why there is so much expectation from him. He takes a lot of pride on that, we are not bothered about how much expectation he takes, on the outside it does not matter. All the bowlers were are confident are good enough to take wickets,” said Kohli.
