Former Pak skipper condemns Indian media’s ‘dirty game’ on Virat Kohli

Kolkata: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt claimed the Indian media is playing a ‘dirty game’ with Virat Kohli. Butt stated that it is not the time to bring up the captaincy question, as Kohli is coming off a good Test series in England and a crucial T20 World Cup ahead of him.

Salman Butt was replying to a recent Jagran network news article that claimed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was displeased with some of Virat Kohli’s actions during the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

It was alleged that if India fails to perform well in the UAE, he may be asked to step down in favor of Rohit Sharma as captain.

In a video on his YouTube account, Butt said, “Do you see the timing of this news? I don’t have a problem with what the board thinks, it’s about their own evaluation of who can take their cricket forward… but is this the time to discuss these things? Now there’s talk of Virat Kohli’s captaincy being on the danger line. He’s recently played a series in England, led his team really well, he was being criticized for his team selections but he’s constantly backing his team and in turn, the team is responding to him and playing good cricket… the team is at the top in every format and the World Cup is right up front, so such news surfacing in the media is nothing but a dirty game.”

On asked to compare the white-ball trophies won by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Butt observed that while the latter is a better captain, the former has a decent win percent across formats as well.

Salman Butt went on to say, in Indian cricket, the captaincy issue is a constant one. While Virat Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain, Rohit Sharma is the same in the Indian Premier League. The T20 World Cup is vital in the sense that a triumph there can put an end to the controversy for good, whereas a crushing loss can exacerbate the problem.