When Michael Vaughan compared Virat Kohli’s on-field antics to Shane Warne’s after he allegedly took a jibe at England’s Barmy Army.
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Very few Cricketers in modern day Cricket come close to someone like a Virat Kohli when it comes to a display of his on-field antics while fielding. What makes him even more special is that he backs his emotional display with some special performances with the bat, making him one of the ‘characters’ of the game, as former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes Kohli to be.
The same was on display during the 4th Test match of India’s tour of England at ‘The Oval’ the previous year. England were up chasing a challenging target of 368 in their fourth innings. Virat Kohli, on a couple of occasions-when Ravindra Jadeja bowled Haseeb Hameed at 63, and when Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up Jonny Bairstow for naught brought out a ‘blowing the trumpet’ celebration, allegedly directed to mock the England’s Barmy Army.
It is worth mentioning that the Barmy Army had, during the third Test at Headingley, given a disrespectful sendoff to Kohli during his walk back to the pavilion with the words “cheerio”, “cheerio” – partying goodbyes.
Michael Vaughan compared Virat Kohli’s on-field antics to Shane Warne’s
While the English fans and the supporters of the Barmy Army took offence to Kohli’s gesture, Michael Vaughan remarked that people who take exception to Kohli’s action are ‘boring’, and that they don’t understand entertainment.
He further went on to exclaim that the sport needs ‘characters’ alike the ones during the 80’s and the 90’s; someone similar to a Shane Warne (who was part of the commentary panel alongside Warne for the series). As per Vaughan, Kohli reminded him of the legendary Aussie leg-spinner.
“Kohli is an incredible leader. You know, he’s got this incredible buzz of energy. He was taking a shot at the Barmy Army with his trumpet signs to the stands. I love it. I just think we don’t have enough characters in the game and when we have someone like Virat Kohli doing just that… just kind of mimicking the crowd… trying to get his own supporters going,” exclaimed Vaughan during an interaction with Fox Sports.
“Those who are complaining are just boring. They don’t understand entertainment. We’re in an entertainment industry where we need people like Kohli. We need characters. You go back to the 80s and 90s, there were characters and we worked with them. Shane Warne one of the great characters… absolute great; as mad as a box of frogs but you just know that you have a great character on the commentary box, on the field,” Vaughan further added.
India went on to win the 4th Test by 157 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the 5-match series. The final Test would be played on July 1 this year, after the same had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
