Alex Lees opened up about his verbal feud with Virat Kohli during a Test match in 2022.
Lees, who has played only 10 Tests so far, claimed that Kohli was trying to ‘use his weight’ over him. He also explained how the Indian batter was sledging his teammates.
Despite being a newbie in the international arena, Alex Lees decided to give it back to Kohli. Widely regarded as one of the best batters of the modern era, Virat was enduring a lean patch at that time. He wasn’t able to hit a century across formats for more than two years.
Lees made the most of it and took a dig at Kohli’s with an epic “I’ve had two kids since you last scored a century,” remark.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Lees recalled his tussle with Kohli and said: “Because I was an inexperienced international, he was trying to use his weight. It was a pretty poor cricket chat. He was just carrying on in a fashion he can do sometimes. He had been getting under people’s skin in the field when he was batting.”
“I’m not fussed about someone’s position in the game. We are all equal out on the pitch. I just wasn’t going to put up with someone trying to intimidate me. It was as simple as that. He is an incredible player, but I thought he was just being a bit of an idiot. I’ve had two kids since you last scored a century,” he added.
There was a lot of noise around Virat Kohli’s 71st international century at that time, and Alex Lees felt it was an apt sledge to wind up the Indian legend.
The English batter also rued getting out on 56 in that Test match as he wanted to silence Kohli with a century.
“He is only human, and I knew it must be playing on his mind and was the thing that would probably wind him up the most. Once I had spoken to him, he saw a bit of red mist, especially when we came out after tea. He is a competitor. He wants to win. I will never understand the weight of a billion people on my shoulders, but you can be competitive without losing your cool. I knew I had got to him. The biggest shame for me was I reached 56 and then got run out. The ultimate reply would have been to get an unbeaten hundred and win the game, but I didn’t get the chance,” he remarked.