With not much to defend, fielding was the key and that is what India skipper was expecting out of his players during the third T20I against England on Wednesday at the Narendra Modi stadium. In the 11th over of the match, Kohli lost his cool and gave a piece of his mind to Shardul Thakur following a lazy piece of fielding in the deep.
Kohli – who sets high standards in the field and prides on that – was of the opinion that Thakur could have prevented a second run had he been quick to the ball. But again, one has to credit Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow for being lightning quick.
Here is how fans reacted:
Virat Kohli gets angry and abuses Shardul Thakur. This was the moment that the audience would forget the grief of England’s batting 😂.#INDvENG
— APM Memes (@ApmMemes) March 16, 2021
Shardul Thakur gave an extra run and bully @imVkohli swears…but khud ne catch choda…woh chalega
— Paddy (@paddylives) March 16, 2021
Kohli just said “Bhenchod ” which means sisterf*cker to Shardul Thakur. 😂😂
— Ankit Rao (@Ankit_rao1) March 16, 2021
Virat Kohli Shouts At Shardul Thakur Meanwhile Thakur ⬇️#INDvENG #Cricket #CricketLive #Ahmedabad #Dhoni #Dream11 #IndiavsEngland pic.twitter.com/64NmKSG52L
— Prateek Shrivastava (@Prateek86816662) March 16, 2021
Earlier in the day, Kohli played the captain’s knock to perfection as he smashed his 27th fifty in the T20I format. It was Kohli’s 77* off 46 balls that helped India post a 156-run score – which at one stage looked far-fetched.
This was Kohli’s second consecutive fifty and also he remained unbeaten on both occasions. In all probability, Kohli would rate the fifty during the third T20I higher as it came when the team needed it the most. The Indian skipper walked into bat with a score of 20 for two.
He took his time, got his eye in, and then teed off in the end.