“Virat Kohli Is A Guy Who Never Forgives” – Monty Panesar On Bodyline Attacks To Indian Tailenders

The Lord’s Test was filled with heated exchanges between several players like Virat Kohli, James Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mark Wood. Meanwhile, former English cricketer Monty Panesar believes that it was the idea of England’s coach Chris Silverwood to target Indian tailenders.

Notably, Mark Wood went aggressive against Indian tailenders, especially Jasprit Bumrah, and bowled back-to-back short-pitched deliveries to him. The main motive behind this move was to avenge James Anderson. As Jasprit Bumrah launched a barrage of bouncers at James Anderson in the 126th over of England’s first innings.

Also Read: ENG vs IND 2021: Top 3 Heated Moments At Lord’s

Meanwhile, Monty Panesar believes England’s head coach planned to bully Jasprit Bumrah. Also, he said that England was unaware of the character of the Indian captain. Panesar feels that Indian skipper Kohli never forgives anything he keeps observing things and comes back hard on the opposition.

“I am sure it all came from England coach Chris Silverwood. That was his idea, ‘let’s target India’s number 10 or 11, bouncing them really hard and rattle them.’ India were like, ‘okay you are after one of our guys, we all will be after you now.’ India’s tactic really worked in their favour. England thought that they would bully the Indian team. ‘Let’s bully Jasprit Bumrah, the number 11.’

But they weren’t aware of what kind of character Virat Kohli is. He was observing everything and then came back hard on England. He is a guy who never forgives,” Monty Panesar told Timesofindia.com in an interview.

Monty Panesar further added that Kohli can’t take bullying and he supports his team in any given situation. Also, he opined that England’s strategy to go aggressive against Indian tailenders backfired for them. Panesar stated:

“He will support his team in every way no matter what. Virat can’t tolerate the bullying of his teammates. England started but it backfired and all credit goes to Virat. England were intimidated by the Indian team. On Day 5, when they got Rishabh Pant out, they thought they would get Shami and Bumrah cheaply too. But everything backfired for England. You just can’t mess with India. Virat can’t take bullying. He will give it back to you strongly,”

Notably, Bumrah and Shami added unbeaten 89 runs for India on Day 5 to help India reach 271 runs.

“Virat is a hard taskmaster. The credit has to go to him” – Maninder Singh

Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh feels that the verbal banter between players fired up the Indian team, to go for the win.

“This Indian team plays as a unit. The incident had fired India up. It made India more determined. India has become a good traveler now. Winning in Australia is not easy but this Indian team has done it twice. They won back-to-back series on Australian soil. Whenever an opponent tried to go after India, they have given answers with their performance. That’s what they did in the Lord’s Test. Honestly, I basically don’t mind such incidents on the field. It makes a game interesting. It shouldn’t be too gentlemanly all the time,” Maninder told Timesofindia.com.

Maninder Singh went on to praise Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri for doing a commendable job for an Indian cricket team. He asserted:

“Virat is a hard taskmaster. The credit has to go to him. But I would give credit to this unit as a whole. Let’s not forget Ravi Shastri. He is doing a commendable job. He is the one who is injecting confidence in the team and youngsters,”.

Meanwhile, England will face off India in the third Test match which is scheduled to take place at Headingley, Leeds. The match will begin on Wednesday 25 August

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