Failing to deliver with the bat on the final day of ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 final while chasing a gargantuan 444-run target, former India captain Virat Kohli has yet again become the target of trolls and his naysayers as India lose yet another knockout match of an ICC tournament.
Advertisement
Contrary to the hopes and expectations of millions of fans since the past 24 hours or so, the batting line-up bogged down under their massive weight and offered very little resistance to a top-notch Australian bowling attack at The Oval today.
Just six overs into the day’s play, Kohli chased a wide delivery from pacer Scott Boland only for the ball to yet again take his bat’s outside edge through to Steven Smith in the slip cordon. It was as if Australia went on a death roll post the biggest wicket so early into the day that they bundled out the remaining Indian batting unit by the end of the morning session.
While batter Ajinkya Rahane did show some resistance, it was just not India’s day as all they could manage was 234 in 63.3 overs to hand the opposition a 209-run victory.
Fan Trolls Virat Kohli With MRF Commercial Reference
There was no way Indian fans would not vent their frustrations and take explicit and subtle digs, particularly at the much-famed batting line-up. Kohli was yet again criticized, trolled, and what not, as social media users came up with creative memes to criticize the 34-year-old player.
Perhaps the most creative one came from the end of one of the famous verified handles on Twitter where he trolled Kohli with the popular MRF Tyres commercial reference and its famous promotion line.
“I recommend 3 IPLs a year for sheer comfort and the guaranteed victory of an Indian team only,” read the user’s tweet. For those unaware, the original promotion line spoken by Kohli in the very advertisement as the company’s brand ambassador reads, “I recommend MRF ZLX, for sheer comfort and long life”.
It is not the first time that Indian cricketers have been accused of prioritizing Indian Premier League matches more than the international ones. In fact, fans also claim that majority players play with much more passion and intensity for their respective IPL franchises than for the national side.
Virat Kohli Test Average in WTC 2021-2023
Kohli ends the WTC 2021-23 cycle as India’s leading run-scorer. Across 17 matches, the right-handed batter scored 932 runs at an average of 32.13 with the help of a century and three half-centuries.
Kohli does take the top-spot in the list but his performances were pretty ordinary to say the least. Apart from Cheteshwar Pujara (32 innings), no other batter had played more than 21 innings during the cycle.
Only four scores in excess of the 50-run mark across 30 innings is pretty unacceptable for someone of Kohli’s stature and even considering the vast batting talent pool that the country has.
