'What message did he want?' Sunil Gavaskar replies to Virat Kohli's plaint

Virat Kohli has scored fifties in two consecutive matches at Asia Cup 2022, and fans are hoping this is the end to the prolonged rut the ace cricketer has been in over the last nearly three years.

After topscoring against Pakistan in the Super 4 match on Sunday, Kohli spoke about the bad and lonely times he spent, during which he failed to score runs and gave up captaincy of the Indian team


One statement from him especially caught the attention of cricket lovers. "One thing I can tell you is when I gave up Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person who I've played with before -- MS Dhoni," he said.

Kohli had quit T20 captaincy after the World Cup loss, but the ODI leadership was taken away from him. India's most successful captain then relinquished Test leadership in January, catching the cricketing world by surprise.

He added that a lot of people gave "suggestions on TV", but none of thwm called him up despite having his phone number.

It wasn't clear whom he had in mind, but a lot of speculation pointed to batting great Sunil Gavaskar, who had said that if he had 20 minutes with Kohli, he would tell him things to do to overcome lean patch.

When Gavaskar was asked about Virat's grievance, he had a witty reply.

"It's very difficult to say as to whom Virat is referring to? If he would have taken any names, you can then go and ask that person, if you have contacted him or not," Gavaskar told 'Sports Tak' on Monday.

"If he is talking about former players, who have played with him, we know who all from that lot come on TV. He should name the player he is referring to. Ask them Kya Bhai aapne koi Message nahi kiya (Bro, you didn't message me?)," he added.

Gavaskar's next few lines were sharper.

"What message did he want? Encouragement? But then he is done with captaincy, so why would he need encouragement? That chapter (captaincy) is already closed," PTI quoted Gavaskar as saying.

The best part about leaving captaincy, Gavaskar said, is that you can focus on your own game.

Gavaskar pointed out that when he quit the captaincy in 1985 after winning the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket in Australia, there were no special messages or calls for him.

"That night we celebrated, hugged each other but beyond that what else do you expect ?" he said.