"Things are going too far" - Former India wicketkeeper criticizes Virat Kohli's behavior in BGT 2024-25

Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim believes Virat Kohli went overboard with his aggression on the field during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. He pointed out that such behavior does not befit a player of his stature.

India suffered a 1-3 defeat in the five-match series against Australia. Kohli, who had an indifferent tour with the bat, was fined 20 percent of his match fee for shoulder-barging Australian opener Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test.

During an interaction with SportsNext, Karim was asked about his thoughts on Kohli's on-field behavior during the Australia series.

"I now feel this kind of behavior does not befit Virat Kohli. He is a senior player now. I agree that there were one or two debatable decisions in Australia this time but they weren't from the Australian umpires. They were from the neutral umpires," he responded.

"If there is any doubt about technology as well, that should be discussed with the ICC or the broadcasters and producers. Behaving like that with the crowd and having a conversation like that with Sam Konstas is not right. I feel things are going too far," Karim added.

The former India selector noted that aggression should be shown through performances on the field.

"If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs, with your performance, by taking wickets, and winning matches. The unnecessary aggression we see many times on the ground has become too much. Aggression should be through runs or performance as was shown by Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy to an extent," Karim elaborated.

Apart from the Sam Konstas incident, Virat Kohli had a few altercations with the crowd during the Australia tour. He also had a heated exchange with a journalist who filmed his family at the Melbourne airport without his permission.

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"When runs stop coming, you see this kind of frustration" - Saba Karim on the mounting pressure on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was found wanting with the bat in BGT 2024-25. [P/C: Getty]

In the same interaction, Saba Karim replied in the affirmative when asked whether the lack of runs and similar mode of dismissals could have contributed to Virat Kohli's frustration.

"It happens at times that the pressure keeps mounting on you. You are putting a lot of hard work in practice sessions and encouraging and forcing yourself to score runs in important matches, and that too in Australia where Virat had a good record earlier, but when runs stop coming, you see this kind of frustration," he said.

Kohli aggregated 190 runs (including 100* in the second innings in Perth) at an average of 23.75 in nine innings in BGT 2024-25. All eight of his dismissals in the series were to catches behind the stumps off deliveries outside the off-stump.