Virat Kohli Namedropped In Big Take On 'Sledging' Row At Lord's: "Forgive Me For Degrading..."
Former England captain Michael Atherton namedropped Virat Kohli while discussing the on-field spats during the Lord's Test between India and England.
- Atherton referenced Kohli's shoulder barge incident against Australia while taking about the Lord's Test
- Atherton criticised on-field spats like the one between Mohammed Siraj and Ben Duckett
- "There should be no place, for example, for the shoulder barge that Virat Kohli initiated," Atherton wrote
Former England captain Michael Atherton namedropped Virat Kohli while discussing the on-field spats during the Lord's Test between India and England. There were multiple occasions where players got into altercations and Atherton recalled Kohli's shoulder barge episode in Australia last year to give an example of the kind of incidents that should not happen on the cricket ground. The former England cricket team captain was referring to the spat between Mohammed Siraj and England batter Ben Duckett. In his column for The Times, Atherton pointed out that there should be some balance between passion as well as sportsmanship when it comes to Test cricket and such on-field spats should not happen.
"Forgive me for degrading the report of a great match with this nonsense, but wouldn't spectators rather see players caring too much, rather than too little, about playing Tests. No one, of course, wants to see physical altercations on the field of play, or sustained nasty verbal abuse. There should be no place, for example, for the shoulder barge that Virat Kohli initiated in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last Christmas, when he diverted from his path to deliberately walk into Sam Konstas. In a match where there was plenty of spice and niggle, tempers flared as Carse and Jadeja collided mid-pitch, although the impact was entirely accidental, after Jadeja had deflected the ball towards third man, with both players ball-watching rather than minding each other's path," he wrote.
Atherton also mentioned England's historic ICC World Cup 2019 victory - exactly six years ago - and drew paralells between them with respect to Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer's performances.
"Six years ago to the day, Lord's had witnessed the most remarkable finish to any cricket match, when the World Cup final was decided on a boundary countback after a Super Over. Now the game delivered an extraordinary finish again, with two of the protagonists from that day, Stokes and Jofra Archer, taking centre stage," Atherton wrote in his column.
Virat Kohli
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team