'Said that because we're one family' - Mohammad Rizwan explains 'our Virat Kohli' remark

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has heaped praises on Virat Kohli and also spoke about how he felt while interacting with the former Indian skipper during the India-Pakistan encounter at the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year. Kohli went on to exchange pleasantries and also hugged Rizwan and Babar Azam after Pakistan’s emphatic 10-wicket win.

Apart from meeting Kohli, Rizwan also went on to recall his very first interaction with MS Dhoni during that event. Dhoni was the mentor of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup. At the same time, the Pakistan batting sensation said that he was really overwhelmed by the love and affection that he received from the Indian players.

‘It was the first time I was meeting Virat Kohli’ – Mohammad Rizwan recalls first meet

“It was the first time I was meeting 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, it was amazing. If I said ‘he is our Virat Kohli’, it’s because we all are a family. Obviously, when we enter the ground, no one is a star,” Rizwan said while speaking on Waheed Khan’s YouTube show Cricket Baaz.

“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.

The arch-rivals will be locking horns in this year’s Asia Cup, which will be played in the T20 format. More importantly, all eyes will be on the highly-anticipated T20 World Cup encounter at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23. While the Men in Blue would be looking forward to settling scores after their humiliating loss in Dubai last year, the Men in Green would be eager to showcase a similar performance at the MCG.