Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar recently reacted to Virat Kohli’s 5-year-old remarks. He claimed that had the former Indian skipper played against him, he wouldn’t have scored so many runs and centuries.
Kohli has been one of the best batters that have played the game of cricket. The right-hander has etched his name in almost every record book that is related to batting and is still going strong.
Kohli currently has 23650 runs in 458 international games with 70 centuries and 122 half-centuries to his name. He’s also the seventh-highest scorer in world cricket and the third highest among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar (34357 runs) and Rahul Dravid (24208 runs).
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On the other hand, Akhtar was one of the fastest pacers the sport has witnessed. The fast-bowler has always hogged the limelight for his off and on-field antics. Known as 'Rawalpindi Express', Akhtar broke numerous records, including being the first bowler to officially break the 100 mph speed barrier.
Mostly known for his aggressive personality, Akhtar represented Pakistan in 46 Tests, 163 ODIs, and 15 T20Is. He took 178 wickets in the longest format of the game and bagged 247 wickets in the 50-over format to go with 19 T20I wickets.
Many over the years wished for the battle between Kohli and Akhtar and there also have been various face-offs between fans of both the countries related to the same.
The duo once had an opportunity to play against each other. It was during a match between India and Pakistan in Asia Cup 2010 in Sri Lanka when they featured in the playing XI of their respective teams but Kohli’s early dismissal denied the contest.
Then in 2017, Kohli talked about the contest against Akhtar. He said that although he couldn’t face him, the pacer looked very lethal and batters wouldn’t have wanted to face him at his peak.
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“I’ve never faced Shoaib Akhtar but I’ve seen him in a game in Dambulla against Pakistan. I got out, (so) I couldn’t face him. But I saw him bowl and he looked very lethal even at the later stages of his career. At that time, I felt (that) batsmen would not have wanted to face him when he was at his peak,” Kohli had said.
Now five years later, Akhtar reacted to Kohli’s remark. The former Pakistani speedster while thanking the Indian cricketer for his words said that had he played against him he would’ve gotten the best out of him.
“Virat Kohli is a good person and a big cricketer and you only expect big words from big players. And I thank him a lot for that. But, if I would have played against Virat Kohli then he would not have scored these many runs but whatever he would have scored those would have been fabulous and it would look that he really fought hard for those runs.
“He may not have had 50 centuries. 20 or 25 may at the most but those would have been valiant hundreds. I would have gotten the best out of Virat Kohli,” Shoaib Akhtar said on SportsKeeda.
