At The Oval, a reporter asked, 'Virat, you guys were competitive throughout the series but the fact that these kind of tags like 'best Indian side in the last 15 years', do these things put extra pressure on you or do you actually believe you are?'
London: Coach Ravi Shastri had sparked off a debate after he claimed that the current Indian Test side is the best when compared to the country’s teams in the past 15 to 20 years. Now, captain Virat Kohli has presented his views on it, rather angrily.
On Tuesday, England defeated India by 118 runs in the fifth Test at The Oval, to claim the Pataudi Trophy 4-1. The visitors fought hard on the final day with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant’s centuries but the efforts were not enough to avoid defeat.
Also read: Kohli the batsman wins but his captaincy remains questionable
In the post-match press conference, an Indian reporter asked Kohli whether he believed the current side was the best in last 15 years, referring to what Shastri had said earlier.
The skipper lost his cool and questioned the reporter back. And this was not the first time that the Delhi batsman had snapped at journalists. It had happened earlier this year in South Africa.
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At The Oval, a reporter asked, “Virat, you guys were competitive throughout the series but the fact that these kind of tags like 'best Indian side in the last 15 years', do these things put extra pressure on you or do you actually believe you are?”
Kohli replied, “We have to believe we are the best. Why not?”
The reporter was not satisfied with Kohli’s answer and asked, “But is this the best Indian side in the last 15 years? That is what your coach said.”
Virat Kohli lashes out at a reporter when asked about his team's reputation as the best Indian side in 15 years. pic.twitter.com/T5rdgVGyMw
— Deepak Raj Verma (@iconicdeepak)At this point, Kohli had appeared to have lost his cool and shot back, “What do you think?”
The journalist said, “I am not sure.”
Then Kohli put an end with this, “You are not sure. That is your opinion. Thank you.”
Earlier this year in South Africa, Kohli had got angry with a journalist after losing the Centurion Test in January.
When asked about the constant chopping and changing of the team, Kohli hit back at the scribe stating that they had results to back the selections. He had said, “I am here to answer your questions, not to fight with you”.
Also in South Africa, after winning the ODI series 5-1 in February, Kohli hit back at reporters for calling the team “poor”.
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