South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has reignited a war of words with Virat Kohli ahead of India’s highly-anticipated World Cup opener, saying that the Indian skipper can’t take the abuse and that comes across as immature to him.
Rabada and Kohli were involved in a heated exchange of words when Royal Challengers Bangalore were playing an away match against Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
“I was just thinking about the game plan, really, but Virat, he hit me for a boundary and then he had a word. And then when you give it back to him, he gets angry. I don’t get the guy. Maybe he does it because it gets him going, but that comes across as very immature for me. He is a phenomenal player but he can’t take the abuse. But those things can’t distract you,” Rabada told ESPNCricinfo.
He then revealed that the entire incident kept playing in his mind on the way back to the team hotel in the bus, as he kept wondering whether it is anger that makes Kohli the player he is.
“But later that evening, on the bus back to the hotel, I asked myself: ‘That guy [Kohli] always seems to be angry on the field. Is he really angry?’ Then I thought to myself what it would take for me to become really, really angry. That is going to happen very few and far times in between. And becoming angry like that — is that what gets him to play well? Do you know what I am saying? I can’t psyche myself to be angry,” he said.
