Virat Kohli takes a dig at Virender Sehwag for breaking the bank to sign KL Rahul

The recently concluded IPL auction turned out to be a success story, with the franchises shelling out huge sums of money in a bid to procure the best in the business. It was an action packed 2-day affair that took place on the last weekend of January. The mega-auction, however, coincided with the last two days of India’s third Test against the Proteas. Albeit busy with the fixture, Virat Kohli, and Co kept a thorough track of all the happenings at the IPL 2018 Auction.

At the forefront of the excitement was none other than the skipper himself who was retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a whopping 17 crores. But Kohli’s lofty price tag was not the only reason to attract attention. He made head turns when he passed a casual remark after the sale of KL Rahul. His former RCB team-mate was bought for a hefty Rs 11 crore by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).

RCB were keen on retaining Rahul but KXIP’s persistence, guided by former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, made sure the Karnataka batsman will turn-out for the Punjab outfit. Once the deal was done, Kohli was heard saying, “Viru pa pagal ho gaye hain (Sehwag has gone mad).” The Indian captain was referring to Sehwag’s keenness to acquire Rahul for KXIP as quoted by DNA.

Kohli silences Sehwag

While it can be assumed Kohli said that in jest, one wonders if there’s more to what meets the eye. After all, Sehwag had only a few days ago said that Kohli should drop himself from the Indian Test team if he fails with the bat in South Africa. The Nawab of Najafgarh had made that statement after some questionable team selections by Kohli.

Kohli, of course, had gone ahead and given the best reply to Sehwag and all other critics. After slamming a masterful 153 in the final Test, he continued his century streak in the ODI opener with a sublime 112 to put the Men in Blue on the driver’s seat for the limited-overs leg of the tour.