Anushka Sharma was warned by Shoaib Akhtar about Kohli taking up captaincy
Shoaib Akhtar admitted that he told Anushka Sharma that Virat Kohli was making a mistake by taking up the captaincy
Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has opened up about Indian skipper Virat Kohli and how he has managed to evolve his team’s mindset over the course of his captaincy.
During a chat with Sportskeeda, the former paceman admitted that he had once told Kohli’s wife, Bollywood star Anushka Sharma that the batsman was making a mistake by taking up the role as captain.
"I think Virat (Kohli) has done a wonderful job as a captain,” said Akhtar.
“I said it to Anushka Sharma in a Sony show- I think Virat is making a mistake by being a captain. I knew there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him and it would bog him down,” he said.
“In a country like India with a population of a billion, there are around 20,000 TV sets and channels, enough to slam him. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘he’s a young kid, let him score runs and play his game,’” he added.
"He [Kohli] took up that challenge of being a skipper. He took it on and made sure that his replica was instilled within the fast bowlers,” he continued.
“He wants to see his aggression in his fast bowlers. He’s not actually a Virat Kohli on the field, he is a fast bowler running in the form of an Ishant Sharma or a Bhuvneshwar Kumar or [Mohammed] Shami,” he added.
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