Asia Cup 2022 is just a few moments away from now. All the players are giving their best whether it is On-field or Off-field. In an informal chat with Rashid Khan, the Afghan Ace Spinner narrated an interesting tale. Rashid told sports presenter, Sawera Pasha about his encounter with India’s Great Virat Kohli in the nets.
The narration by the Spinner clearly elaborated the greatness of Virat Kohli and his passion and determination towards the game. The story is from IPL 2022. The stage was set for Royal Challengers Bangalore to take on Gujrat Titans. Rashid, who plays for Gujrat Titans told about how he was fascinated by seeing Virat Kohli practising in the nets.
Rashid said, “During the IPL, we had a match the next day against RCB. In the nets, I was just counting the time Virat was out there. To be honest, he batted for two and a half hours. Main aisa hairan hua (I was so shocked). Our nets were finished and still, he was there batting. The next day he scored around 70 against us. His mindset is very positive.”
Rashid exclaimed that he counted the time, and the time was about two and half hours and Kohli was still practising. Kohli ended up scoring 73 off 54 balls – his highest score in IPL 2022 – the next day to guide RCB to an easy eight-wicket win over Gujarat Titans by chasing down 169 in 18.4 overs. However, Kohli could not continue his form and his stats dipped throughout the season.
Kohli Is Not Out Of Form: Rashid Khan
Talking about Virat’s dipping form, Rashid commented, “Jab wo khelta hai toh aise shots khelta hai ki aap bologe ki bilkul out of form nahi hai. Main toh yahi bolunga that he is not out-of-form. (When he bats, he plays such wonderful shots that to me, he doesn’t appear to be out-of-form at all).
“The expectations are much more. People want him to score a hundred every second game. If you look at his Test match innings, he has got through the tough time, batted well, then somehow he has gotten out for 50 or 60 or 70. If there was any other normal batter then everyone would have said that he is in form but with Virat, the expectations are such that they only want centuries.” Rashid emphasized the fact that the class of Virat is much higher than any other player. Fans are expecting centuries from the Run-Machine (Virat was referred to as Run-Machine).
Kohli Has A Positive Mindset: Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan was seen praising Virat for his positive mindset. Even though Kohli is suffering from poor form, he kept a positive attitude, Rashid told Sawera Pasha.
He said, “Jitna meri usse baat hui hai. Uske mind mein kabhi aya nahi ki log kya kahenge ya unki expectations kya hai. (Whenever I have had a word with him he has made it clear that people’s expectations don’t really bother him) The way that he prepares, I think it is an example for all of us. We tend to get motivated and put in more effort after watching him practice. A certain time comes in your career when whatever you try, doesn’t work. But we as fans, want him to score big runs and I’m sure the hundreds will also come.”
Rashid Khan will be seen playing against Sri Lanka in the series opener. While India will be seen playing against Pakistan in the second match of the tournament.
