Virat Kohli abused the person next to him after seeing my pace: Mohammad Irfan

Pakistan pace sensation, Mohammad Irfan believes that Gautam Gambhir’s International stint ceased after the opener failed to deal with him. He also told that captain Virat Kohli was stunned over his speed and performance. Pakistan quick has the credit of bowling out Gambhir twice in a three-match ODI series in 2012.

During a recent interview, the speedster went vocal about his encounters with Indian cricketers. The left-arm pacer also explained his comment which stated, he ended Gambhir’s career because the batsman wasn’t able to understand his deliveries. He even emphasized the fact that the India-Pakistan matches have a lot to do with a player’s career.

In interaction with Sawera Pasha on YouTube show ‘CricCast’, Irfan said, “Actually whenever we have India-Pakistan matches, whoever does not perform well he becomes a zero and whoever performs becomes a hero.”

The 7’1″ pacer even said that Gautam Gambhir wasn’t at his usual self when he used to bowl at him. The pacer added that everyone was of the view that former opener looked lost as if he is just not able to negotiate those deliveries, “The way I was bowling to Gautam Gambhir, he was not able to see the ball, the way he was playing my bouncer, everyone was saying that he is not looking like Gautam Gambhir.”

Post that series, Gambhir was dropped from the team and wasn’t able to mark a successful return since then. The Pakistan speedster believes that his height was also a factor that made players lose their mind.

“Because there was so much pressure of my height and my bowling, so I had said from my side that I felt like that because after that he didn’t come back in the team, he was dropped from the team.”

Coaches told Kohli of Mohammad Irfan to be a medium pacer

The speedster went on to say that when he played first against India, Indian players told him that their coaches told them about Irfan as just a medium pacer who remained around 130-135 kph and had some edge only because of his height. But when he started shooting deliveries like bullets, players were stunned and Virat Kohli confirmed again whether he is a medium pacer as he was consistently touching 147-148 kph.

“When I toured India for the first time, the Indian players were telling me that their coaches and support staff had told them that I bowl only at 130-135 kph and not at much speed. Even Virat Kohli told me that the coaches next to him had said to him that I bowl at 130-135 kph only.”

“It’s just that I am tall and will get some bounce but he will survive easily. So when he was sitting with his pads on, he saw that I delivered the first ball at 145-146 kph. So he thought there might be some issue with the speed gun. And then I bowled at 147 kph, so he told me that he asked his coach if he was telling a lie or there was some issue with the speed gun.”

“Virat Kohli told this to me face to face. And when I bowled the next one at 148 kph, he told me that he abused the person next to him asking what sort of medium fast bowler I was, as I was bowling at 150 kph.”

However, when asked about the current best batsman in the world, Pakistan quick mentioned the name of Virat Kohli in no time.