Kohli blasts ‘spineless’, ‘pathetic’ India critics

India captain Virat Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli launched a blistering attack on his team’s critics yesterday, blasting them as “spineless” and “pathetic”. Kohli was furious over the social media reaction to his team’s 10-wicket loss to arch-rivals Pakistan in the opening game of the T20 World Cup. “There’s a good reason why we are playing on the field and not a bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person,” said Kohli. “It has become a social pandemic in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and so sad to see because this is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at. And that’s how I look at these people.” Kohli was particularly angry over the abuse aimed at India’s only Muslim player, fast bowler Mohamed Shami who played in the defeat. “Attacking someone over their religion is the most pathetic thing that a human being can do,” said Kohli. “They have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field. They have no understanding of the fact that someone like Mohamed Shami has won India matches in the last few years.  Honestly I don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people and neither does Shami and neither does anyone else on the team.” Last weekend was the first time in 13 white-ball World Cup meetings that Pakistan had defeated India. Since then, Pakistan have won two more games against New Zealand and Afghanistan to move to the brink of the semi-finals. Today, India play their second match against New Zealand. “It’s been a long break for us. It’s been a lot of time waiting and just doing nothing, really, for us as a team,” admitted Kohli of the lopsided schedule. “Now we’re just itching to go back on the park and be competing again and look to correct the things that didn’t happen well in the first game.” New Zealand spearhead Trent Boult said he is planning to follow the example of fellow left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi of Pakistan and swing the ball in to India’s right-handers. Kohli said India had their own plan to foil Boult. “If Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us, obviously he’s motivated to do so and we have to be motivated to counter that and try and put pressure on him and other bowlers,” Kohli said. “We’ve played against all these bowlers for a long period of time and we understand exactly what we need to do. All that matters now is when we step onto the field, what kind of mental frame we are in.” Kohli will step down as captain of the T20 team at the end of the tournament as India look to add the 2021 title to their victory at the inaugural event in 2007.Boult plots Afridi-style assault on IndiaTrent Boult has seen how Shaheen Afridi swung the ball to wreck India’s top order at the Twenty20 World Cup and the New Zealand pace spearhead is plotting something similar in today’s crucial contest against Virat Kohli’s men. Left-arm pacer Afridi dismissed Rohit Sharma for a golden duck with a searing, swinging delivery and, in his next over, bowled the other opener, KL Rahul, to set up Pakistan’s 10-wicket romp in the Group II blockbuster in Dubai. New Zealand are also smarting from their defeat by Pakistan and need a win against Kohli’s “Men in Blue” to revive their campaign. “The way Shaheen bowled the other night was, for a left-armer, I thought it was amazing,” Boult told reporters yesterday. “There’s quality batsmen in that Indian lineup and early wickets are definitely the focus for us as a bowling group.” “Hopefully, from my point of view, it swings around a little bit and I can mirror what Shaheen did the other night.” Kane Williamson’s team will draw inspiration from their edge over India in global tournaments in recent years, having prevailed in the semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup and the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in June this year. Boult insisted they cannot afford to lower the guard against the 2007 champions, who are seeking to revive their own campaign after being thumped by arch-rivals Pakistan. “There’s always a lot of excitement that comes with playing India,” the bowler said. “We’ve probably enjoyed some success over the last few years in these ICC tournaments but it definitely doesn’t mean that we’re going to treat them lightly or anything like that. “It’s a big game for both teams. I’m sure both are looking forward to putting on a good show,” added the 32-year-old.Southee wants NZ bowlers to adapt quickly to Dubai wicket New Zealand will need to adjust quickly to the pace of the Dubai wicket if they want to defeat India when the teams meet in their crucial Twenty20 World Cup clash, bowler Tim Southee said. The Black Caps lost their opening T20 match against Pakistan on Tuesday by five wickets and face an India side also in need of a win after suffering a defeat in their opener against the same opposition. “There’s a lot of learnings to be taken from the first game,” said Southee, who claimed his 100th T20 wicket in the loss to Pakistan. “We weren’t far off against a quality Pakistan side, but we’ve got to park that. We’ve got to look forward. “It’s such a short tournament and there’s no easy games.” The New Zealanders will be playing at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the first time during the competition while India lost at the same ground in their opener, potentially giving Virat Kohli’s side an advantage. “In each of the three grounds you play at you have to adapt to all three, they offer different assistances for the seamers, which we saw in Sharjah, the slower balls at the back of a length worked,” said Southee. “The Dubai wicket tended to have a bit more pace in it and seems to be a better wicket, so we have to adapt to that as quickly as we can.” Only the top two nations in each of the two groups in the Super 12 phase of the competition advance to the last four.