Indian skipper Virat Kohli had a hard but also amusing time during the post-match press conference after the loss against Pakistan as he was confronted with questions that he rated “brave” and could only offer laughter at.
One of the Pakistani journalists sitting in the room where the press conference was ongoing asked Kohli if the team realise they would have had more success with Ishan Kishan in the team over Rohit Sharma in the first question.
Kohli was lost for words initially but asked a counter-question after giving public support to Rohit, who got a duck in the game. Kohli said that he played the playing XI which he found the best suited for the game, and dropping Rohit was not even in his mind by any stretch of the imagination.
He also termed the question as one asked to rake “controversy”.
“That’s a very brave question. What do you think, sir? I played the team that I thought was the best. What is your opinion? Will you drop Rohit Sharma from T20 international? Will you drop Rohit Sharma? Do you know what he did in the last game we played? Unbelievable. Sir, if you want controversy, please tell me before so I can answer accordingly,” he added.
Another Pakistani journalist asked if Team India were overconfident coming into the game against Pakistan due to their unassailable record against them in the World Cup.
By that time, Kohli was irked and he replied that people are downplaying what it takes to play high-octane contests such as the one against Pakistan and that they don’t realise what does it mean to the cricketers before asking such questions.
India were humbled by Pakistan by a huge margin of 10 wickets as the Pakistani opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan trounced the Indian bowling attack after Shaheen Shah Afridi rocked the batting lineup with three big wickets of Kohli, Rohit and KL Rahul.