Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are undoubtedly among the finest batters in the world. Given that both of them hold so much of importance for the Indian team and international cricket, the duo is always in limelight. However, a negative aspect of being in the focus is that the players are also subjected to 'media bashing' at times. Pakistan's pace legend Shoaib Akhtar has said that he feels sad for it. He added that even batting legend Sachin Tendulkar had to go through it during his playing career.
"I feel sad for the likes of Virat and Rohit for the bashing that they get. But Virat is someone who performs under pressure. There hasn't been a greater batter than Sachin and even he had to suffer for 20 years, the onslaught from media. I feel the media does a lot of bashing for TRP. I feel sorry for the current cricketers for the pressure they're under," said Akhtar on YouTube channel 'Wake Up With Sorabh'.
Kohli has always been among the key players and when it comes to India vs Pakistan matches, the player becomes all more special. Pressure gets the best out of Kohli and that sees him perform really well in high-octane clashes.
Akhtar has shared a piece of advice for the Pakistan cricket team on how to tackle Kohli during a match.
"We have the better bowling attack. If I was with the team, I would have pushed them to show more courage and be fearless. Don't talk to Virat Kohli, just start pushing him. Disturb his focus. Get him busy with you. If he gets busy with batting then he will win the game," he added.
The first India vs Pakistan match in Asia Cup 2023 could only see one innings being possible, with rain washing out the second innings. In the game, the talismanic Kohli could only score 4 runs, a score that was quite against his form.
Over the years, Kohli has dominated the run-scoring records. He is currently the number two batter in the list of most ODI centuries.