How Pakistan Star's Text To Virat Kohli After IPL Spat Led To Viral Asia Cup Moment

Pakistan cricket team star Agha Salman revealed that he texted Virat Kohli after his on-field spat with Gautam Gambhir during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 and it later led to one of the most viral moments of Asia Cup 2023. In a recent interaction with Islamabad United, Salman said that he sent a DM (direct message) to Kohli after the India star batter was involved in verbal altercation with Gambhir after a match between Royal Challengers Bangalore. While he did not reveal the exact details of his message, Salman said that he has huge respect for Kohli and he started the text with "Kohli bhai".

"I have so much respect for Virat Kohli, I don't think there is any cricket fan in the world who doesn't respect him. I texted him, I am not going to tell you the complete details but will just tell you the start. It started with 'Virat Bhai', I texted him when he had a fight with Gautam Gambhir [during IPL 2023]."

"I, Abdullah Shafique and Usama Mir were sitting together and watching a match, I think New Zealand were playing a series against Pakistan back then. There was nothing [negative] in that message that would make people think I said something bad," he said during the interaction.

Salman also explained how his text went on to create one of the most viral moments of Asia Cup 2023 when Kohli visited the Pakistan dressing room ahead of their match. Shadab Khan told Kohli about Salman's text and the picture of their interaction went on to create a lot of buzz on social media.

"I mistakenly told Shadab Khan about texting Virat. You have watched the video of me, Shadab and Virat standing together [during Asia Cup 2023], actually, at that time, he [Shadab] had told him [Virat] that he [I] texted him," he said.

"We had a bit of laughter after I told Virat that I texted you this, he then told me he may have missed the message as he receives thousands of messages every day. It was all Shadab's doing [telling Kohli]."

Topics mentioned in this article

Agha Salman Gautam Gambhir Virat Kohli India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Cricket