Veteran Pakistani pacer Sohail Khan is in the news these days after an interview of him went viral on the internet. The 38-year-old right-arm medium pacer, who appeared in 9 Tests, 13 ODIs, and five T20Is, made sensational revelations about his interaction with Indian batter Virat Kohli when the two faced each other during India’s ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2015 opener against Pakistan in Adelaide. In that game, Sohail picked up his only five-wicket haul in ODI cricket. He accounted for the dismissals of five Indian batters—Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ajinkya Rahane—in that game.
According to Sohail, during that game he had a heated verbal altercation with Virat, who made a superb 107. Sohail was upset with Kohli and said some shocking words to Team India’s then-vice captain. “Virat came. He said to me ‘Aap cricket mein abhi aaye hain. And itni baatein karte ho (You’ve just arrived, and you speak so much). I was a Test cricketer back then. I had played Test matches in 2006-07. Then in between, I endured a troubled knee, which forced me out of action. I said, ‘Beta jab tu Under-19 khel raha tha na, tera baap Test cricketer tha‘ (Son, when you were playing Under-19 for India, your father was a Test player). That’s how I said it. Then, if you look carefully, Misbah intervened, and he got angry at me. He asked me to keep quiet,” Sohail revealed the conversation on the Nadir Ali Podcast.
After several videos and articles of his interview went viral on social media and Sohail himself started trending on Twitter, Indian fans slammed him for his distasteful choice of words. They were quick to remind the pacer how he has performed in international cricket and how Virat is doing.
Sohail, who picked up a total of 51 wickets in international matches across formats, last played for the Men in Green on September 13, 2017 against the World XI side at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. He continues to play domestic cricket for Sindh but is no longer a member of the national team.
