Mumbai: Cricketer-turned-commentator Simon Doull has made a startling revelation.
The former New Zealand pacer claimed that he has been receiving death threats for criticising Team India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star Virat Kohli.
Doull, like many of his peers, has often hailed Kohli as the greatest batter of his generation. But the New Zealander has also picked Kohli’s faults when he felt it necessary.
Doull pointed out that nobody cares when he praises Kohli, but a minor criticism often leads to him getting death threats from fans.
“He’s too good to worry about what if he gets out. He’s too good a player, and that was always my point around him. I said a thousand great things about Virat Kohli, but I say one thing that might be slightly negative or construed to be negative, I get death threats,” Doull said during a discussion on Cricbuzz post the IPL 2024 final.
Doull was critical of Kohli for his strike rate during the early phase of IPL 2024. Even legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar pointed out Kohli’s slow strike rate, especially in one particular match.
Kohli didn’t like it, and responded without taking any name.
Doull said he has nothing personal against Kohli, and he often speaks to him before or after the games.
“It’s never personal. We’ve had great conversations. I’ve interviewed him at tosses, we’ve talked after games, there’s never been an issue. It’s the same thing I said about Babar and talked to him after the game. He also told me that the coach had said the same thing to him,” Doull said.
Kohli emerged as the highest scorer (741 runs) in IPL 2024, improving as the season progressed and finishing with an impressive strike rate of 154.7.
Kohli’s RCB teammate Dinesh Karthik said that Kohli likes to prove his critics wrong.
“Virat Kohli would like to write a book on how he was this year. He started okay. Thanks to people like Simon (Doull) and a few others who really spurred him on. And you know that side of Virat Kohli. I think that he thrives on that. He is someone who inadvertently holds on to certain things to do well. He loves people proving wrong. Even though he might not come out and say this, it really fuels his passion. He is like a molten lava coming out. He is fiery and you don’t want to be anywhere close to him because you are going to get burnt for sure,” Karthik opined.
Condemning the death threats against Doull, Karthik urged fans to find the difference between constructive criticism and someone taking personal jibes.
“That’s pretty sad to hear though… You go to basketball, football games and you see pundits speak about the game. I think the Indian fans should really find out the difference between people taking it personally or people talking about his cricketing side. Virat really appreciates that,” Karthik remarked.
