"Don't Feel Good, Have Seen It With MS Dhoni Too": Virat Kohli On Crowd's Gesture During Rohit Sharma's Dismissal

Virat Kohli was candid while speaking about the crowd's gesture for him at the end of India's first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara on Sunday. The wicket of Rohit Sharma saw Kohli arriving at the crease during the game. Given a huge cheer from crowd followed when Rohit fell as Kohli was set to arrive, the number 3 batter said that he doesn't feel good about it. Kohli added that he has observed a similar reception from crowd when MS Dhoni arrives in the middle.

During Chennai Super Kings' IPL matches, even the team's fans celebrate the wicket that brings Dhoni to the crease.

"I honestly don't feel good about it, I've seen it with MS (Dhoni) too. I understand the crowd get excited. I just try to keep the focus on the game. I feel grateful, it's a blessing (that people come and watch me). Makes me happy when I see happy faces," said Kohli.

He missed out on his 85th international ton by a margin of just seven runs. Reflecting on it, he said, "Honestly, the way I'm playing, I'm not thinking milestones. If we were batting first, I'd have gone harder. The experience does kick in, but the main thing was to get the team ahead and to a winning position. The basic idea is I bat at No. 3 and if the situation is tricky, I try to counterattack without playing outrageous shots."

Virat Kohli missed out on a deserving hundred, but thanks to KL Rahul's penultimate-over heroics, India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the game.

The hosts lost momentum after Kohli was dismissed for 93, but Rahul's calm and composed 29 not out off 21 balls sealed the victory for India.

During the match, Virat Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the fastest player to reach 28,000 international runs, achieving the milestone in his 624th innings-20 fewer than Tendulkar. Shubman Gill scored 56, while Shreyas Iyer contributed 49. Earlier in the day, despite probing opening spells from Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj, Daryl Mitchell struck a counter-attacking half-century (84 off 71) to guide the visitors to 300 for 8. Henry Nicholls and Devon Conway also scored fifties.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team India vs New Zealand 2026 Virat Kohli MS Dhoni Rohit Sharma