"Virat Kohli Like My Son, Why Would I Say...?": Chetan Sharma On Sting Operation Controversy

Former India selector Chetan Sharma has suggested that he has always considered star batter Virat Kohli as his son, adding that he is eagerly waiting for his return to action. This comes after Chetan resigned as the selector last year amid row over his alleged remarks in a sting operation. In a sting operation conducted by Zee News, Chetan had made inappropriate remarks on Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and a number of other players in the team. In his first interview since the sting operation, which led to his ouster from the BCCI, Chetan said that he would never say bad things about Kohli.

"Virat Kohli is like my son, and why would I say bad things about him? I always pray for his well-being. I hope he comes back and scores centuries to reach the 100-ton mark in international cricket. Virat is an icon of Indian cricket. I am waiting for his return," Chetan told News 24 in an interview.

Chetan also hailed current India captain Rohit Sharma, saying that the latter has sacrificed himself for the team.

"Rohit Sharma is among the few players who sacrificed himself for the team. He led from the front, and once your openers score 80 runs in 10 overs, the rest of the batters can take the total to 300 runs." 

He was impressed by Rohit's attacking brand of cricket during the ODI World Cup last year. 

"Rohit started going after the bowlers in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, but his plans didn't succeed due to pitches and some other reasons, but he was on the top of his game in the ODI World Cup. India crushed the opponents in the event," he added.

During the tournament, India were undefeated till the semi-final but lost to Australia in the final on November 19. 

Coming back to Chetan, he had allegedly revealed his internal discussions with head coach Rahul Dravid and Kohli, who was captain at that time.

He had also alleged that a lot of players take injections to expedite their return to competitive cricket despite being 80 to 85 percent fit.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Rahul Dravid Chetan Sharma Cricket