Pakistan all-rounder Salman Agha revealed how him telling Shadab Khan about texting Virat Kohli after the cricketer’s spat in IPL 2023 with Gautam Gambhir led to a viral moment in Asia Cup 2023.
Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir nearly came to blows during the last IPL over Kohli’s altercation with Naveen ul Haq during a match. Both had to be separated by their respective team members and they were slammed for their behaviour on social media.
The news of Kohli and Gambhir's altercation spread across borders, prompting Pakistan batter Agha Salman to send an Instagram DM to Virat in the aftermath of the spat. Salman recalled this incident without revealing his exact message to Kohli.
"I have so much respect for Virat Kohli, I don't think there is any cricket fan in the world who doesn't respect him. I texted him, I am not going to tell you the complete details but will just tell you the start. It started with 'Virat Bhai', I texted him when he fought with Gautam Gambhir [during IPL 2023]," Salman said in an interaction with Islamabad United.
"I, Abdullah Shafique, and Usama Mir were sitting together and watching a match, I think New Zealand was playing a series against Pakistan back then. There was nothing [negative] in that message that would make people think I said something bad,” he added.
Salman went on to reveal how his text to Kohli would go on to make one of the most viral moments of the 2023 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. A picture capturing Kohli, Salman, and Shadab Khan sharing a laughter on the steps of the pavilion went viral.
Salman informed that when the picture was clicked, the three were discussing the DM episode and recalled Kohli's reaction to it.
"I mistakenly told Shadab Khan about texting Virat. You have watched the video of me, Shadab, and Virat standing together [during Asia Cup 2023], actually, at that time, he [Shadab] had told him [Virat] that he [I] texted him.
We had a bit of laughter after I told Virat that I texted you this, he then told me he may have missed the message as he receives thousands of messages every day. It was all Shadab's doing [telling Kohli],” Salman added.
Meanwhile, in December, Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq shed light on Salman's text to Kohli, where he claimed that his teammates asked Kohli to 'calm down'.
"Kohli bhai, easy ho jao. Kya ho gaya hai? [Kohli brother, take it easy. What happened?]," Imam said in a video.
However, Salman said that one shouldn’t take Imam seriously, and discarded his words.
"Don't take Imam seriously. He ends up saying something when in flow and then keeps trying to cover it. I never said anything of that sort. Even in that podcast, he was trying to do damage control towards the end for what he said," Salman said.
Here is the video:
