There was love and affection when we met Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni: Pakistan star Mohammad Rizwan
India Today
Pakistan's batting star Mohammad Rizwan said all cricketers are part of a big family and that love and affection were on display when he first met former India captain Virat Kohli.
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan talked up the camaraderie between India and Pakistan players, recalling his meeting with Virat Kohli and the Pakistan players' meet and greet session with the then India mentor MS Dhoni at the T20 World Cup last year.
Virat Kohli and Mohammad Rizwan embraced each other after the T20 World Cup match between the arch-rivals last year. Kohli's gesture to applaud the efforts of Rizwan and Babar Azam after Pakistan's 10-wicket win over India in the crunch Super 12 match went viral on social media.
Rizwan, meanwhile, recently shared the Sussex dressing room with Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara at the county championship. The two players shared the crease as well and spent quality time with the Pakistan wicketkeeper going on to say he learnt the importance of staying focussed in the middle for longer periods in the middle from Pujara.
Speaking on Waheed Khan's Youtube show Cricket Baaz on Monday, Rizwan also clarified his viral 'Virat Kohli is ours' comment from last month, adding he said so because he believes all cricketers are part of one big family.
"It was the first time I had met Kohli. The kind of things I had heard about him like other players told me 'Virat is aggressive and all'. But the way he met me before and after the match was amazing. If I said 'he is our Virat Kohli', it's because we all are a family," Rizwan said.
"Obviously, when we enter the ground, no one is a star.
"There we have no brotherhood or anything of that sort. But outside the field, when we met Kohli, and some of our players also met MS Dhoni, we met with a lot of love and affection. Nothing was different," he added.
