'Babar ko, Kohli ko, sabko dhota hai yeh' - Fans echo Simon Doull's 'stats are great, but it has to be team first' statement on Virat Kohli

Cricket-turned-commentator Simon Doull wasn't impressed with Virat Kohli's 61 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. In the game, after losing the toss, RCB opener, Kohli started his innings with a bang. However, after the powerplay, he got a bit slow alongside skipper Faf du Plessis. This was pointed out by Doull who criticized the former India and RCB skipper.

The former New Zealand pacer started by saying that Kohli started like a train and was hammering the ball. However, the former added that while reaching his fifty, the Delhi player slowed down to reach his fifty. Doull further added it is important for a player to keep the team first while milestones are a great thing for them.

“Virat Kohli started off like a train. He was hammering shots. But from 42 to 50 he took 10 balls. He's concerned about his personal milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going,” he said.

“Rather than putting the team first... the last little while, that's all that been happening. Rather than looking for boundaries, still so much firepower to come. Hundreds are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first,” Doull had said during his commentary stint.

Simon Doull said the same words for Babar Azam during PSL 8

Meanwhile, this isn't the first time Doull has pointed out such minute intricacies in a player's game. Last month, during PSL 8, he criticized Peshawar Zalmi and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for playing slow to reach his maiden PSL hundred. Eventually, the Yellow brigade lost that game against Quetta Gladiators.

“Rather than putting the team first... the last little while, that's all that been happening. Rather than looking for boundaries, still so much firepower to come. Hundreds are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first,” Doull said during his commentary stint.

This is how Twitter reacted

Wow exact statement word by word 😳https://t.co/JssPcSCX8f

— Dhull fc (@WintxrfellViz) April 10, 2023

This is why Virat kohli is most selfish player!

— ` (@Worship45) April 10, 2023

I am a fan of both Virat and Babar, and I remember how some Virat fans trolled Babar coz Simon gave a similar statement when Babar had completed his century. Now lets see their reaction 🤣🤣🤣

— K 🇮🇳 (@VK18addict_) April 10, 2023

he slowed becuz he cant hit spin very well(Sometimes)

kohli needs spin basher at other end esp after powerplay.

its not becuz of the milestone or anything.

— Clark Kent (@ClarkKent9966) April 10, 2023

Exactly.

It hurts as I am virat fan, and I am sure it's not about personal records over team for him, it's just a natural instinct while you are near a milestone, but this was a differentiating factor today.

Hard to admit, but facts are facts

— Digantanil Giri (@DigantanilG) April 10, 2023

he always put his opinion strongly even in psl he said exactly about babar and as commentator this is his job and he is doing this remarkably…well done sir @Sdoull

— Neeraj wadekar (@ImNeerajWadekar) April 10, 2023

@imjsk27 @whoshud "Kohli doesn't care about milestone" bodied here. Kohli cares bout the milestones most. I remember he denied stoinis the strike in 2019 IPL to complete his 💯,played for his 100 in 2017 vs SL,wt20 played for milestone except Pak game@gurkiratsgill

— Hiren Patel (@HirenP784) April 10, 2023

At that time Kurnal and Bishnoi were bowling tight and even Faf was not striking properly at that time.

So that is the reason he took so many balls to get to half century #ViratKohli𓃵 #IPL23 #IPL #LSGvsRCB #RCBvLSG pic.twitter.com/xbsxHZJ7VR

— Rajesh (@rajp3006) April 11, 2023

Leaving no stones unturned doully ..did it with Babar..did it with Kohli 😂 gutsy @Sdoull

— HAJI ALI (@Tweet_Haji) April 10, 2023

If you have looked ball by ball of this period, faf was struggling to score boundaries, then virat slowed down as he was not willing to take chances. Spin was doing great, they could have got him out around 35 itself if he didn't slowed down. Faf made him to slow down a bit.

— Harish Ravisundar (@harish_ravi21) April 10, 2023