Pakistan Pacer Sohail Khan Recalls Argument With Virat Kohli, Told him ‘Beta Jab Tu U19 Khel Raha tha…’

Virat went on to score a century in the 2015 World Cup match against Pakistan while Sohail Khan took a five-fer with MS Dhoni-led Team India emerging victorious.

Source: Twitter

Former India captain Virat Kohli is not one to take a backward step on the cricket field especially when it comes to facing up against the arch-rivals Pakistan. Kohli has hit many a winning knock against Pakistan team in the ODI and T20 formats of the game – the most recent being a brilliant 82 not out in the T20 World Cup 2022 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan recalled one such incident when he was up against an in-form Kohli at the 2015 World Cup. Kohli was involved in a war of words with Sohail Khan. He went on to score a century in that match while Sohail took a five-fer with MS Dhoni-led Team India emerging victorious.

Upset with Kohli, Sohail recalled a shocking discussion with the Indian batter. “Virat came. He said to me ‘Aap cricket mein abhi aaye hain. And itni baatein karte ho (You’ve just arrived and you speak so much). I was a Test cricketer back then. I had played Test matches in 2006-07. Then in between I endured a troubled knee which forced me out of action. I said ‘Beta jab tu Under-19 khel raha tha na, tera baap Test cricketer tha’ (Son, when you were playing Under-19 for India, your father was a Test player). That’s how I said it. Then if you see carefully, Misbah intervened and he got angry at me. He asked me to keep quiet,” Sohail said on the Nadir Ali Podcast.

Here's Sohail Khan explaining what happened between him and Virat Kohli in 2015 in Australia. pic.twitter.com/dc0N4Q0MCd

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) February 2, 2023

Sohail made his ODI debut in January 2008 while his Test debut came in 2009. Kohli was playing U19 cricket in January 2008 leading the team to the U19 World Cup title as well.

Thanks to Kohli’s ton in the World Cup fixture, India registered a big total of 300/7 on the board. Shikhar Dhawan also played his part in the big total and scored 73 off 76. Pakistan in reply fell well short of the target.

Pakistan have only beaten India once on the World Cup stage – in ODI and T20 format – at the T20 World Cup 2021 by 10 wickets.