Virat Kohli was caught on camera calling Shakib Al Hasan “Malinga” while using the stump mic. Legend Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka has now responded to the incident’s video.
During the first Test match between Bangladesh and India, a humorous conversation between Shakib Al Hasan and Virat Kohli went viral on social media. During his batting, Kohli sledged Shakib on Day 2 of the match at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium. The Indian batsman then chose to attack the top spinner from Bangladesh after he gave Kohli a string of yorkers. Kohli called Shakib ‘Malinga’ while speaking into the stump mic. The legendary Malinga of Sri Lanka, to whom Kohli was alluding in his remark, was capable of delivering unplayable yorkers at a rapid tempo.
“Malinga bana hua hai, yorker pe yorker de raha hai (Acting like Malinga, bowling yorker after yorker),” Kohli could be heard saying to Shakib in the video.
“Niyamai malli,” wrote Malinga while reacting to it. The comment translates to ‘Great, brother.’
— Lasith Malinga (@malinga_ninety9) September 21, 2024
The first Test match between India and Bangladesh was played in Chennai, where star batsman Virat Kohli was again a disappointment. Kohli scored just 6 and 17 in the first two innings of the Test, respectively.
Although Hasan Mahmud’s outside off stump delivery was pursued by him in the first innings, he was given out for an incorrect leg before wicket call in the second. Virat would have been declared not out had he chosen to review it, but the UltraEdge saw the bat making contact with the ball.
This year, Virat is having a bad run of results in every format. He has only managed 319 runs at a poor average of 18.76 in 15 games and 17 innings this year. He has only achieved one half-century and his best score of 76 came against South Africa in the T20 World Cup final.
Virat’s average is currently at an eight-year low in tests. He has amassed 8,871 runs at an average of 48.74 in 193 innings over 114 Test matches, including 29 hundreds and 30 fifties. His average was 48.28 in November 2016, the last time it was lower than this.
The 2020s have not been kind to Virat in the white color scheme. He has only amassed 1,669 runs at an average of just 32.72 in 30 Test matches since the beginning of 2020, with just two centuries and eight fifties in 52 innings. His highest rating is 186.
During the 2023–25 ICC World Test Championship cycle, Virat has amassed 392 runs at an average of 49.00, including two hundreds and a century, in five Tests and eight innings. His highest rating is 121.Having already lost to New Zealand and Australia in the title match, India will definitely need Virat to step up in their upcoming matches against Bangladesh, Australia, and New Zealand in order to win their first World T20 Championship. These matches will also determine if India advances to the hat-trick of WTC finals.
