Twitter Reactions

‘Abhi Virat spin ke virudh bilkul clueless hai’- Fans react as Kevin Pietersen says Virat Kohli is ‘wonderful player of spin’

Virat Kohli has scored 8479 runs in Test Cricket.

Jun 20, 2023 4:12 pm

England and Australia are playing the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. The clash is set for a riveting final day as Australia require 174 runs to win. They will start Day 5 at 107-3. On the other hand, England need 7 wickets to clinch the Test. On another note, Kevin Pietersen talked about Virat Kohli’s ability to play spin with ease and minimal risk. He called him “an exceptional player of spin”. He also highlighted Kohli’s ability to play shorts with least risk.

Pietersen was referred to statistic in Test cricket where Kohli was out stumped just once in his Test career. Kohli has been part of 109 Test matches for India. Kohli was stumped for the first time in his Test career during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in March when Alex Carey dismissed him off Todd Murphy’s bowling. Kohli has scored 8479 runs in Test cricket at an average of 48.72 and at a strike rate of 55.34.

Kohli just stays in his crease and hits it out of the park -Kumar Sangakkara

“He [Virat Kohli] is a wonderful player of spin, and you sort of understand it because they play spin off the back foot and have such beautiful wrists. You hardly ever see Virat running down, charging, and going all guns blazing, and he certainly doesn’t sweep, reverse sweep. I mean, you can watch him bat. Mentally, you can see him batting there, so you can sort of understand that.” Pietersen said on Sky Sports.

Pietersen made the comment on Kohli after referring to a statistic on Joe Root where he was stumped by Carey on Day 4 at Edgbaston after playing 130 Test matches. Touching on the same topic, Kumar Sangakkara also showered lavish praise on Kohli for playing spinners with minimal fuss. Sangakkara mentioned that Kohli’s hallmark is the ability to hit the spinners without having to step out of the crease.

“He [Kohli] is also a kind of IPL mode, isn’t it? A lot of these players are very happy step-hitting from the crease. So, they don’t allow bowlers to bowl on a length, so the old art of having to use your feet against spin is gone, or they don’t do it anymore. You drop down and work a single. No, just stay in the crease and hit it out of the park. That’s true.” Sangakkara added.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:

Taarif kar raha hai ye bezzti bhrwe 😡😭

— हर्षित (@Italymeraghar) June 20, 2023

No, Dravid & Sachin were perfect spin players, they played all kinds of shot with spinners, for the fact Sehwag is better in spin conditions compared to Kohli. Kohli has different skill set and he is been ruling cricket world with that. That doesn't mean he has no weakness. KP 🤦‍♂️

— Vinay Prasad (@Vinay_PrasadBS) June 20, 2023

Dismissed 29 times in his last 40 games vs spin 😂😂

— 🐐 (@ItsHitmanERA) June 20, 2023

Rashid/lyon/moeen always own him

— cato nato (@catonato06) June 20, 2023

WTC final toh haar gaye naa

— Harry (@harry8781) June 20, 2023

Sarcastic kevin

— sarfaraz khan (@khan2345) June 20, 2023

Has KP forgotten the last few years where Kohli has been dreadful against Spin?
Awesome player KP was, horrible pundit tho

— Yash Runwal (@duddalyash) June 20, 2023