Indian veteran Virat Kohli is largely known for his intense aggression on the field, a characteristic that has given him his modern-day status and success. Former World Cup winner and Kohli’s teammate also backs his aggressive attitude and says he wouldn’t be the same player without the aggression.
Virat Kohli is an exceptional cricketer, but he is also a Delhi boy and possesses one of those frequent qualities of extreme aggression and a fearless attitude, which often turns to hostility against fellow or opponent cricketers. Former World Cup-winning teammate of Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, was also known for his aggression.
Kohli’s animated scenes as India’s Test skipper were talked about much during India’s recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, while Gambhir also showed his unfiltered side in the altercation with the Oval Pitch curator, which almost terrified the big fellow.
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Sreesanth claims Virat Kohli is ‘obsessed,’ not aggressive
Former Indian pacer S. Sreesanth has exclaimed how Virat Kohli, the legendary Indian batter, would not have been the same player had he been trying to give up on his aggression or reduce it to any extent.
The 42-year-old former Indian pacer feels that Virat Kohli is obsessed and not aggressive, while he also admitted honestly that he does not want to make any changes to his own life as well.
“Nothing (on whether he would change anything). What others call aggression, I call it passion. Is Virat Kohli aggressive? No. I think he is obsessed. Virat’s aggression, people say, is a lot. I would say if he reduces that aggression, he won’t be the same player,” the former pacer told Padamjeet Sehrawat on his YouTube channel.
Sreesanth and Virat Kohli were part of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup-winning campaign, while the final of the competition was Sreesanth’s last white-ball match for India. After a four-match Test series in England, Kohli saw a new rise in his career; however, Sreesanth marked his last appearance for India in the final Test of the series.
Sreesanth recalls his daughter’s refusal to have a word with Harbhajan Singh
Dating back to 2008, one incident shocked all as Indian fellow players Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh entered into a physical altercation. The Indian spinner, in a heated moment, went on to slap the speedster.
Years after the incident, when Sreesanth introduced Harbhajan to his daughter, the young lady refused to talk to the veteran spinner, while he revealed that Harbhajan did not slap him intentionally.
“When I told my daughter, ‘This is Bhajji pa; he’s played with me,’ she straight away said, ‘No, no, I won’t say hi’. I couldn’t understand why. In school, there may have been the odd conversation about it,” Sreesanth revealed. After this incident, even Singh, on an appearance in “Kutti Stories with Ash,” revealed that he wishes he could erase that incident from his life.
“There are different stories doing the rounds. Then we tried explaining, but she said she still won’t talk to him. The next day, when the legends tournament was going on, we explained that he was like our elder brother,” claimed Sreesanth.
“I don’t think Bhajji pa did that deliberately. It happened on the spur of the moment. It was just a learning experience for both of us,” he added.
Sreesanth’s stats for India
He made his debut for India back in 2005 against Sri Lanka in One-Day Internationals and a year later made his Test as well as T20I debut for India. Despite not having a very long career, he was part of India’s most successful phase in World cricket and was part of the squad winning the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2011 ICC World Cup.
Having played just 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is, he picked up 87, 75, and 7 wickets, respectively. With 169 international wickets, he was India’s speed gun during his short stint in international cricket.
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