Five times Virat Kohli faced massive criticism in his career

Virat Kohli is arguably one of the greatest modern-day cricketers. However, he is going through a rough patch of form at the moment. The once number one batter is struggling to score even a half-century these days. His last century came in November 2019 which is almost two and a half years ago. The swashbuckling batter has been central to cricket for more than a decade now. In those years he has seen many highs and many lows, one of which he is going through right now.

Despite his stature though, he has faced criticism on many occasions due to his hot-headedness and other reasons. Let’s look at five times when the Indian batter faced criticism for his actions on the field or off of it.

Middle finger to the Sydney crowd

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

The most memorable and striking one of Kohli’s criticism came from his spat with the crowd in Australia. Playing at Sydney against Australia in 2012, the Indian team was taken to the cleaners by an in-form Michale Clarke. Virat Kohli fielding at the boundary line was receiving high amounts of flak from the home crowd. Being hot-headed and young, the Delhi-born gave back the Australian crowd and showed them a middle finger.

His actions were caught on camera and printed on the front page of Australian newspapers the next day. He was called to match referee, Ranjan Madugalle’s office the next day and asked, ‘What happened at the boundary yesterday?’ Kohli knowing full well what the question meant when shown his photo on the front page of newspapers said, ‘I’m so sorry, please don’t ban me!’

Stump mic controversy in South Africa

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

The second outburst and resulting criticism came on India- South Africa’s third day of the third Test. When a DRS call went against India, the Indian captain was furious. The Proteas captain was given out by the on-field umpire but a DRS review showed the ball going over the stump despite the ball hitting below the knee roll.

This was when Kohli said this to the stump mic, "Focus on your team as well when they shine the ball.. and not just the opposition, trying to catch people all the time." KL Rahul then added, "Whole country playing against XI guys.”

Kohli faced a lot of criticism for disrespecting the third umpire and the sanctity of cricket.

Kohli- Gambhir on-field spat

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

Kohli’s hot-headedness is a world-known fact; that is how he is. In the early days of his career, this was even more apparent. He faced a lot of criticism when he clashed against Gautham Gambhir in the 2013‘s edition of the Indian T20 League.

It started when Virat Kohli was given a send-off by the Kolkata captain Gambhir which the batter took to heart. There were a lot of expletives thrown both ways and players and the umpire had to come in between. Both Kohli and Gambhir faced criticism for behaving in an unruly and immature way on the field.

Kohli’s unceremonious removal from captaincy

Virat Kohli speaking to media (Image source: Twitter)

Kohli also faced criticism for coming out against the Indian cricket board when sacked from India captaincy. In an explosive interview after his removal as ODI captain, the Indian batter said, “I had told BCCI that I want to quit T20I captaincy. I wasn't told to reconsider it. It was received well, without any hesitation; I was told it's a progressive step and it's in the right direction. I had told them that I want to continue ODI and Test captaincy unless the office bearers think otherwise. I had given that option to them," Kohli had stated. Kohli was however also removed from ODI captaincy.

Both Kohli and the Indian Cricket Board were criticised for washing their dirty laundry in public.

Criticism for the current form

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

Although Kohli is getting support from all cricket fraternity and even Tennis ace Novak Djokovic, he is being criticised by a lot of fans for his lacklustre form. Since November 2019, the Indian batter has failed to score a century and that is one of the longest periods of droughts for which a player has carried on to be selected for the team without being dropped.

Kohli’s 2022 average languishes in the low 20s as opposed to the high fifties of the past. In the England tour, the batter failed to produce any substantial knock in either Test, T20s or ODIs. Social media is filled with fans calling out for the board and Kohli to be dropped and given chance to youngsters like Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer and others.