Virat Kohli not upset with Dickwella for his time wasting tactics

Indian captain Virat Kohli reckons it was fair enough for Niroshan Dickwella to try and take valuable time out of the game on the 5th day of the Kolkata Test match which ended in a draw. Team India needed wickets while racing against time in the final session of the game to register a win as the light was fading and the umpires could stop the game anytime.

Dickwella decided to show some gamesmanship at that point as he stopped Mohammed Shami a couple of times in the middle of his run-up which pissed the fast bowler off. Kohli himself was not amused by it either as he went charging towards the umpires and showed his displeasure at the batsman’s time-wasting tactics by pointing fingers towards the Sri Lankan keeper in an angry fashion.

However, speaking to the press ahead of the second Test, Virat shrugged it off saying it’s all fun and the reason why he got angry there was because he wanted to seal a victory for his team at any cost. But what Dickwella did was fair enough from his perspective.

“I like to see that competition on the field. In the heat of things or in that moment, I would do anything for my team to win, but afterwards we had a normal chat and in the fight as well. Those things end on the field but when you are competitive as an opponent, we always respect that about any opponent.” Virat said ahead of the Nagpur Test.

Dickwella a great prospect for Sri Lanka

The Indian skipper had some words of praise for Dickwella’s attitude. According to Virat, he always admires those players who bring a higher level of competitiveness into the game and Dickwella is one of them. He believes the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper has it in him to go on and become a successful international cricketer and serve his country in enormous capacity.

“He is a very feisty character and that works for his game, credit to him for maintaining that and I’m sure he will do many good things in future as well for Sri Lanka Cricket,” Virat remarked.