'Noise of Cricket' - Fans school Harsha Bhogle for indirect dig at Virat Kohli after second T20I

Star India batter Virat Kohli made his comeback to T20Is after 14 months as he played the second T20I against Afghanistan on Sunday, January 14 at Holkar Stadium, Indore. Kohli walked into bat in the first over itself as captain Rohit Sharma got dismissed for his second consecutive duck. The New Delhi-born cricketer looked in good touch as he batted with intent right from the word go but got dismissed for 29(16) in the sixth over.

India went on to win the match by six wickets as Shivam Dube (63* off 32) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (68 off 34) guided their team home with stupendous innings. After the game ended, commentator Harsha Bhogle analysed Kohli’s innings and said that it was exactly the kind of knock a team wants. He further said that a quick cameo is always better than an innings of 50 (40) in a 170+ run chase.

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“Kohli's innings of 29(16) will draw diverse comments because of his stature. From a T20 perspective, it was exactly the kind of innings a team wants. One of six batters scored more than a sixth of the runs at a SR > asking rate. But because he is a great player, we expect more and think it was underwhelming,” posted Bhogle on X.

“A 29(16) from Jaiswal or Gill will be more acceptable though it should really be seen the same way. The 29(16) approach will produce, say a 60(33) a few times. It is admirable that at this stage of his career Kohli is actually challenging himself in the shortest form. 29(16) is a better innings than 50(40) in a 170+ run chase,” he added.

Kohli scored 50 (40) in the semi final of T20 World Cup 2022

However, Bhogle’s comments have not gone down well with several fans who slammed him for unnecessarily targeting Kohli. Notably, the 35-year-old scored 50(40) during the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 against England as India posted a below-par score of 168/6 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, England openers Jos Buttler (80* off 49) and Alex Hales (86* off 47) chased down the target in 16 overs and won the game by 10 wickets.

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Since then, Kohli has been criticized by a certain section of fans and experts for his approach in T20Is. However, the chase master has always risen to the occasion whenever India has been in trouble. His two Player of the Tournament awards in back-to-back editions of the T20 World Cup in 2014 and 2016 are a testament to single-handedly carrying the entire Indian batting line up. Notably, Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20Is (4037 runs) and both T20 World Cup (1141 runs).

Meanwhile, Harsha Bhogle’s didn’t go down well with some fans who taught him about Kohli’s greatness in his replies. Here are some of the posts: