Dubai: From Shane Warne to Rohit Sharma, the last few weeks of coronavirus pandemic saw several top cricketers letting their guard down on the social media - allowing their followers a peek into their personal lives or often engaging in interactive sessions with their fans.
It was a happening day in the world of Instagram when on Thursday, Indian captain Virat Kohli - who has a staggering 53.1 million followers - engaged in a tete-e-tete with Kevin Pietersen. The former England star, who is hugely popular in India and had not so long ago done the rounds with a number of Indian Premier League (IPL) teams including Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, covered a wide range of subjects - using his TV pundit’s interviewing skills to the hilt.
Asked why had RCB failed to win a single IPL title, despite boasting some of the best batting line-ups, Kohli said: “We have reached three finals but haven’t won. We deserve to win a title. At RCB, we get talked about so much as we had stars. The more you think (about winning the IPL), the more it keeps running away from you. There have been added pressure lately but we need to just enjoy and not take pressure.”
The pair went down memory lane to talk about their days playing together for the Bengaluru outfit in 2009 and 2010. “Right from 2009-10, we had amazing fun at RCB. We hit off well from Day 1. You came in as the big KP a star. We had a gun team with Kallis, Boucher, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid,” Kohli said.
On a more technical note, Kohli revealed that M.S. Dhoni and AB de Villiers are the two batsmen he loved batting with the most. “I enjoy batting with those who can run fast with me. So it has to be MS when we play for India together and AB when we play in the IPL for RCB. We don’t even talk while we are batting,” Kohli said during the Instagram live.
Kohli felt that the Indian cricket team was one of the best fielding sides in the world and revealed how he got that culture in the side. “I was lucky to be in the centre of transition. I got to see what we were lacking and what the world was doing and we needed to catch up. So I was lucky to play with players who were on same page,” Kohli said.
Pietersen had previously hosted India’s limited-overs vice captain Rohit Sharma in the same show.
