This kind of behaviour does not befit Virat Kohli: Saba Karim

Virat Kohli grabbed the spotlight in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) for all the wrong reasons. First, he was termed a clown by the Australian media after he shoulder-bumped debutant, Sam Konstas which was followed by the crowd booing him throughout the Melbourne Test. The heat from the spectators got carried away to the fifth Test as well with the former India skipper losing his calm. 

He was stationed at the slip as the crowd continued with their booing. Kohli was quick to reciprocate with actions as to say that he is not carrying any sandpaper in his pockets. The move was not well received by the locals again and the fervour does not seem to stop. Former India cricketer, Saba Karim was critical of the star batter’s behaviour and said that the veteran ‘went too far’. 

"I now feel this kind of behaviour does not befit Virat Kohli. He is a senior player now. I agree that there were one or two debatable decisions in Australia this time but they weren't from the Australian umpires. They were from the neutral umpires," said Karim speaking to Sports Next. 

"If there is any doubt about technology as well, that should be discussed with the ICC or the broadcasters and producers. Behaving like that with the crowd and having a conversation like that with Sam Konstas is not right. I feel things are going too far," he added.

If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs: Karim

Notably, Virat Kohli has a lacklustre outing in Australia as the right-handed batter managed to score only 190 runs across five Tests. Though he scored a Ton in the first Test, his remaining 10 innings accrued him just 90 runs. Karim added that Kohli should have let his aggression out through fetching runs and provided examples of some key contributors in the series.

Also Check: Kohli mocks SCG crowd with controversial sandpaper gesture

"If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs, with your performance, by taking wickets, and winning matches. The unnecessary aggression we see many times on the ground has become too much. Aggression should be through runs or performance as was shown by Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy to an extent," Karim concluded.