Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan has given an apt reply to Ex-Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez, who had called Virat Kohli ‘selfish’ after he scored a match-winning hundred against South Africa in Kolkata in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.
Kohli’s 101* and 77 from Shreyas Iyer, combined with Rohit Sharma’s 40 and contribution from lower order, took India to 326/5 on a dicey pitch in Eden Gardens. In response, South Africa was skittled out for 83 runs as Ravindra Jadeja took five wickets and India won the game by 243 runs.
This was India’s 8th straight win in the tournament, cementing their no.1 spot in the CWC 2023 points table.
Reviewing the game on a Pakistani TV show, Mohammad Hafeez reckoned that Kohli slowed down in a bid to reach his milestone of 49th ODI hundred. This enabled him to equal the record of the great Sachin Tendulkar. Hafeez said that instead of picking up singles in the death overs, Kohli should have gone for some big shots.
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“I saw a sense of selfishness in Virat Kohli's batting and this happened for the third time in this World Cup. In the 49th over, he was looking to take a single to reach his own hundred and he didn't put the team first. Rohit Sharma could have played selfish cricket too, but he didn't because he is playing for Team India and not for himself,” Hafeez said.
Calling Hafeez’s comments as ‘utter nonsense’, Michael Vaughan lauded Kohli for putting his head down and playing a responsible knock on a difficult pitch to bat on.
Vaughan took to X and wrote, “Come on @MHafeez22 !!! India have hammered 8 teams playing great cricket .. @imVkohli now has 49 tons and his last was an anchor role innings on a tricky pitch. His team won by over 200 !!!! This is utter nonsense. #CWC2023 #India #Pakistan.”
Virat Kohli is now just one ton shy of a record 50 ODI centuries. During his ton against South Africa, he also became the third batter after Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma to score over 500 runs for the Indian men’s team in a single edition of the World Cup.
