Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday cast aspersions on Virat Kohli giving up his captaincy earlier this month. In a conversation with news agency ANI, Akhtar claimed that Kohli did not relinquish his captaincy but was ‘forced to do so’.
#WATCH | Virat Kohli did not relinquish the captaincy himself. He was forced to do so… He is a great cricketer. I think he is going to come out of this: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in Muscat, Oman pic.twitter.com/jbXU5My2bj
— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2022
“Chhodi nahin, chhudwai gayi hai… aise hi hai na? (He hasn’t left, he was made to leave, isn’t it so?)” he said. In an interview with Aaj Tak, Akhtar claimed that there is a lobby against Kohli. Many pro-Congress ‘liberals’ have also cast similar aspersions on Kohli’s leaving captaincy.
Has Virat Kohli paid the price for speaking up against hate? Did he jump or was he pushed?
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) January 15, 2022
Virat is currently the ‘favourite’ of the ‘liberals’ in India for having spoken up against Diwali firecrackers and many had claimed that he is facing the ‘wrath’ for standing up for Mohammad Shami when he was trolled by Pakistanis after the T20 World Cup loss against Pakistan. It was very obvious that the Pakistanis had peddled the ‘Shami abused for being a Muslim’ narrative and ‘liberals’ amplified it. Along with Kohli, other cricketers had also extended solidarity with Shami. Except, everyone then just assumed that Kohli’s captaincy controversy in past few months is because of his ‘standing up for Shami’.
Akhtar is currently in Muscat, Oman, playing the Legends Cricket League where he is representing Asian Lions. In another media interaction after the first match, Akhtar expressed his desire to punch Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who was representing Indian Maharajas at the tournament.
On Thursday, Kaif kept walking out of the crease to Akhtar during the match which triggered Akhtar. He jokingly said that he’d like to punch Kaif. “Mohammad Kaif was walking towards me again. I just feel like punching him. Because I have told him many times in the past ‘do not walk at me’, But he did that again,” he had said.
