Please spare…’ |Amit Mishra takes veiled dig at Shahid Afridi over retirement advice for Virat Kohli
Shahid Afridi praised Kohli for a stellar career and said he believes he should retire on a high, rather than being a shadow of the player that he currently is.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi recently made headlines after advising star Indian cricketer Virat Kohli on retirement from international cricket amid the latter’s ‘unprecedented’ lengthy lean patch. While speaking on Samaa TV, Afridi praised Kohli for a stellar career and said he believes Kohli should retire on a high, rather than being a shadow of the player that he currently is. While Afridi’s comments received much heat from cricket fans in India, the former skipper also received a cheeky response from the former Indian wrist-spinner Amit Mishra.
The veteran spinner took to his official Twitter handle on Tuesday and took a dig at Afridi’s comments about Kohli. “Dear Afridi, some people retire only once so please spare Virat Kohli from all this,” he wrote. In his tweet, it is understood that the 39-year-old cricketer refers to Afridi announcing his retirement and then making an U-turn from his plans of hanging boots multiple times in his career.
Shahid Afridi’s retirement advice for Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, speaking on Samaa TV, Afridi said, “The way Virat has played, the start that he had to his career, there was struggle initially before he made a name for himself. He is a champion and I believe there comes a stage when you are headed towards retirement. But in that scenario, the aim should be to go out on a high.”
The former Pakistan skipper further added that Kohli shouldn’t stretch his career to a stage where he gets dropped from the team. “It seldom happens though. Very few players, especially cricketers from Asia Cup make that decision, but I feel when Virat does it, he will do it style and probably in the same manner in which he started his career,” he added.
Virat Kohli’s sensational comeback to cricket
It is pertinent to mention that Kohli remained subject to criticism for his form over the last three years of his career. Having hit his 70th international century in 2019, Kohli didn’t score a hundred until September 2022. While he continued to score a significant amount of runs during his century drought, it was said that Kohli isn’t the same player anymore.
Following a disastrous tour of England in 2022, Kohli decided to take a month-long break from cricket. He later revealed that this was the first time in almost 12 years that he didn’t touch his bat for a month. Kohli made the most of the break and made a sensational comeback during India’s Asia Cup 2022 campaign.
Virat Kohli’s stats in Asia Cup 2022
Although India exited the tournament after losing two Super 4 stage matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Kohli emerged as the biggest positive for the team. He scored a total of 276 runs in five games, at a strike rate of 147.59, and finished as the 2nd highest run scorer of Asia Cup 2022. His run tally included two fifties and also his 71st international century.
