Published: Aug 13, 2015, 09:25 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 13, 2015, 10:44 AM (IST)
Indian Test captain Virat Kohli is leaving no stone unturned to get his India teammate Rohit Sharma back to form in Tests. In a bid to get Rohit going back to his best, both Kohli and the forever legal cricket enthusiastic Team Director of India, Ravi Shastri have reportedly asked The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to persuade International Cricket Council (ICC) to allow Rohit to play in the Team India blue jersey instead of the traditional white clothing during the on-going Test series in Sri Lanka. Rohit has an average of 4.2 in his ten innings in Sri Lanka (Tests and ODIs combined).
Not worried about the possible outrage about the rule change from the elite fans of the game, Kohli was quoted as saying, “I don’t think many have seen Rohit bat in nets for India. He’s the best we have right now, his talent has to come out for the good of world cricket, ask Sri Lanka or Australia what they faced when Rohit hit effortless double-hundreds in blues.” Read: Virat Kohli angers Indian Government by eating crabs in Colombo; faces ban
While one wonders how fans would react to this, former cricketers and experts sided with Kohli. Sunil Gavaskar was delighted with the prospect of watching Rohit bat in blue. He said, “I have seen God play cricket, he opened batting and captained Mumbai Indians to their second IPL triumph in 2015.”
This move was most appreciated by Suresh Raina, who, according to himself as been at the receiving end of opportunities to cement his place in the side. He requested if he could play in yellow, but was reminded of a certain ban and was content to playing in blue.
It was also observed that Kohli and Shastri had a team meeting about the issue. Varun Aaron was also considered for the recommendation but both men realised that it would anyway not make a difference to Aaron’s bowling. Another colleague who was happier with the prospect of having a chance to play in blue was Harbhajan Singh.
Kohli got more support from cricketers across nations. Mitchell Starc was the first one to respond: “I think white is too soft. To get some aggression one must be natural.” Starc went on to state that he would like to bowl with the white ball rather than wearing whites — something that made the Australians feel better about performing in England.
Chris Gayle, Kohli’s teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Indian Premier League (IPL) shared an Instagram selfie supporting Kohli’s move to get coloured clothing in Tests. He wrote, “It doesn’t matter to me, I score when I wish but if #captianKohli says so, do it maan!” Read:MS Dhoni, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum to feature in ABCD 3
The biggest response came from Bangladesh who promised they would never have Mustafizur Rahman bowling against India, Australia and England if they were allowed to play Tests in coloured clothing. Mashrafe Mortaza was unavailable to comment on the issue.
One wonders if the move will get the nod from ICC. While the world waits in bated breath at the prospect of watching players play Tests in coloured clothing it was reported that Alastair Cook and Cheteshwar Pujara were considering to switch his career from being a cricketer to a hockey player. Read: Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan and biopics of other cricketers
Please note this is a humour article — a work of pure fiction
(Nikhil Popat is a diehard cricket enthusiast and a PotterHead till the end of time. He can be followed on Twitter @CricCrazyNIKS)
