Watch: Virat Kohli as waterboy, fans erupted in joy
As soon as the wicket fell, Kohli, who’s been rested for the game, walked in as waterboy to provide drinks to his teammates.
Crickate
Friday, September 15, 2023, at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India and Bangladesh will face off in the final Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2023. Rohit Sharma, captain of India, won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat first. The team captained by Shakib Al Hasan got off to a poor start, losing their openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das with only 15 runs on the board.
However, what grabbed the attention of the fans was the appearance of India's star batsman Virat Kohli as a waterboy after the second wicket fell. Shardul Thakur smashed the stumps of Tanzid Hasan (13 runs off 12 balls) in the fourth over of the innings, sending him back to the pavilion. As soon as the wicket fell, Kohli, who’s been rested for the game, strolled in as waterboy to provide drinks to his teammates. The incident has gone viral across all social media platforms.
Watch the video...
Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Hardik Pandy have all been rested from India's playing eleven. Suryakumar Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Shami, and Shardul Thakur have replaced them. Meanwhile, Tilak Varma, age 20, has been awarded his first ODI cap.
Tilak Varma makes ODI debut
In his brief T20I tenure, Varma has impressed everyone by scoring 174 runs in seven innings at an average of 34.80 with one fifty. Following his outstanding performance in his first T20I series against the West Indies, there were widespread discussions about including him in the ODI World Cup 2023 squad. Due to his lack of exposure in the 50-over format, he was left out of the mega event. However, he has been given a well-deserved opportunity against Bangladesh.
Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey believes that Varma can solve India's long-standing issue of needing an extra bowler in the XI, as he is viewed as a potential bowling option. He even rehearsed his off spinners in the nets during the team's Thursday, September 14 optional practice session in Colombo.
