Virat Kohli has been pressuring, disrespecting, and remonstrating with umpires throughout this tour: David Lloyd

Former England cricketer David Lloyd seems unimpressed with Indian captain Virat Kohli’s conduct on the field. He has slammed the skipper for pressuring, disrespecting, and remonstrating with umpires throughout the England tour of India comprising four-match Test series followed by five T20 Internationals and ongoing three-match ODI series.

Recently, in an interview, Virat had expressed his disagreement with the use of a soft signal. Kohli had suggested that England had pressurized the on-field umpires to give the decision in their favor during the fourth T20 International when Dawid Malan had claimed of taking a controversial catch of on-field batsman Suryakumar Yadav.

Speaking about the same, David reckoned that it is not the England side but the Indian skipper who has been trying to intimidate the umpires. “Kohli also suggested England were pressuring umpires to give the ‘soft signal’ as out when Dawid Malan took a low catch in the fourth T20. Firstly, the soft signal is there to leave as much authority as possible with the on-field umpires.

“And I don’t know if England put pressure on Nitin Menon in Ahmedabad, but I do know one thing — Kohli has been pressuring, disrespecting, and remonstrating with umpires throughout this tour,” Lloyd wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

Virat Kohli does not seem to have taken the consequences into account

Further, David Lloyd detailed his opinion on the statement given by Virat Kohli regarding the use of umpire’s call while reviewing a decision, especially during LBW cases. The Delhi stalwart had reckoned that the umpire’s call creates a lot of confusion and should be sacked. However, the former England cricketer strongly disagrees with Kohli’s stance as he asserted that the umpires are being undermined and are losing their respect.

David criticized Kohli for not thinking about consequences before making big statements and also reminded him to be careful of the words as he is a public figure and his statement leaves a big impact on people. “Umpires are being increasingly undermined in international cricket and there are players who seem to think they, rather than the officials, are running the game.

“Take Virat Kohli. Before the first ODI, the India captain said the umpire’s call should be removed from the decision review system and if the ball is shown to be hitting any part of the stumps it should be given out. Kohli does not seem to have taken the consequences into account. If everything is out, including when the ball is just clipping the bails, then all Tests would be over in two days. An ODI would be over in four hours.

“Umpires have to be given their authority back. They must be handed yellow and red cards to stamp that lost authority because they look powerless. And Kohli, who has vast responsibility and influence, should be very careful in what he says and does,” Lloyd wrote in his column.