Former New Zealand cricketer and commentator Simon Doull opened up on the backlash he received over criticising Indian cricket star Virat Kohli.
Kohli’s strike rate has been widely discussed in the recent years with several suggesting that the right-handed batter’s scoring rate is not at par with the modern cricket.
While the batter improved his strike rate in the recently concluded IPL 2024, ending the season with a strike rate of 154.70, he was still criticised for failing to maintain a high strike rate throughout the inning.
Virat Kohli had also revealed in recent interviews that he made an effort to keep his strike rate up in the IPL 2024.
Read more: WATCH: Rohit Sharma reacts to query on Virat Kohli’s strike rate
Simon Doull is among those critcising Kohli for a slow strike rate, however, he reversed his opinion in the latter part of the season after Kohli improved his strike rate.
Doull has now revealed the ugly side of criticising a player such as Kohli and the issues he had faced due to his criticism of the Indian batter.
The former New Zealand cricketer said that he had said that Kohli worried about getting out which resulted in a slower strike rate.
According to Doull, it was a rare bad thing he said about the former RCB captain.
“He is too good to worry about getting out and that was always my point. I have said a thousand great things about Virat Kohli but I say one thing negative or construed to be negative, and I get death threats. That’s the shame of it,” he said.
Doull recalled having several conversations with Kohli whenever they got a chance to meet.
“There has never been an issue and I would never have a reason to have personal problems. When I look at the game and the way it has moved, particularly with the impact sub, a strike rate of 130-135 didn’t cut it any more,” he said.
Doull also recalled telling the same thing about Pakistan captain Babar Azam and discussed his strike rate with him.
“It is the same thing I said about Babar and I had a chat with him after I talked about it in Pakistan and he said that his coaches told him the same thing,” he said.
