Virat Kohli couldn't have scored runs against me: Shoaib Akhtar makes BIG statement

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Former Team India skipper Virat Kohli has struggled to hit his top form for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 so far. 

Other than his two superb knocks of unbeaten 41 and 48 against Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively, Kohli has struggled to find big runs and the batter has been average so far in the tournament. Overall, he has scored 107 runs in the first five games for RCB.

Even in the international arena, Kohli has been struggling to find his 71st century for the last 2 years. 

If you're immersed in the joy of doing what you love, everything else is irrelevant.  pic.twitter.com/Wc0DJvg4gm — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) April 15, 2022

Meanwhile, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar raised concerns about Kohli's average form and said that the RCB batter should consider himself an 'ordinary player'.

“It's a performance-based IPL franchise model. No one will be spared, not even Virat Kohli. Even he can be dropped if he does not perform. Some of the things I can't even say now. Not one but there are 10,000 things going on in his head," Akhtar said on Sportskeeda.

"He is a good person, a good player and great cricketer, but I want him to just focus, on one thing at a time. Consider yourself as an ordinary player, pick up your bat and just play. People have already started pointing fingers at Virat Kohli and it's dangerous,” he added.

Also, Akhtar claimed that Kohli wouldn't have ended with so many runs in his career or have 70 international centuries across formats if he would have faced the legendary Pakistan pacer.

“Virat Kohli is a good person and a big cricketer and you only expect big words from big players. And I thank him a lot for that. But, if I would have played against Virat Kohli then he would not have scored these many runs but whatever he would have scored those would have been fabulous and it would look that he really fought hard for those runs. He may not have had 50 centuries. 20 or 25 may at the most but those would have been valiant hundreds. I would have gotten the best out of Virat Kohli,” Akhtar said. 

Interestingly, Akhtar's comments came after Kohli said that any batter would not have wanted to face Shoaib when he was at his peak.

Speaking on Breakfast with Champions in 2017, Kohli said, “I’ve never faced Shoaib Akhtar but I’ve seen him in a game in Dambulla against Pakistan. I got out, (so) I couldn’t face him. But I saw him bowl and he looked very lethal even at the later stages of his career. At that time, I felt (that) batsmen would not have wanted to face him when he was at his peak.”