Virat Kohli is selfish cricketer: Mohammad Hafeez reignites controversy as he stands firm on fiery statement

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has created controversy by calling Virat Kohli 'selfish'. This is not the first time when Hafeez has questioned Virat Kohli's batting intent.

During the World Cup match against South Africa last year, Hafeez had slammed Kohli for not showing intent and playing for his century rather than his team.

Hafeez claimed that Kohli had slowed down after getting into the nineties in order to reach his 49th ODI century.
"I saw sense of selfishness in Virat Kohli's batting and this happened for the third time in this World Cup. In the 49th over, he was looking to take a single to reach his own hundred and he didn't put the team first," Hafeez had said on a Pakistani TV show which was covering the World Cup 2023.

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Mohammad Hafeez repeats his words, and questions Virat Kohli's intent again

Recently, during an interaction on a YouTube show Club Prairie Fire, in which Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan were also involved, Mohammad Hafeez stood by his words and explained the reason behind calling Kohli selfish at that time.

“I was right that time. If you see the whole context, you will know. To me, no matter whoever is playing, your intention, your way of playing should always be towards winning the game,” Hafeez replied to a query on the show.

“But if someone is stopping himself from playing big shot in the 90s, I will never take it. On 95, if someone is taking five balls to get to his 100 and not thinking that if maybe on those three or four balls, if I can hit," he explained.

"If my intentions get changed after scoring 100, why I cannot play that same shot when I was on 95? Or on 92? Because to me, your intent should always remain the same – do whatever possible to add value to your team and get them to a winning position,” Hafeez added.

'Personal milestones should go away from cricket' - Mohammad Hafeez

Hafeez further explained his stance by saying that Kohli took a lot of balls to reach his century without playing any big shots.

“I felt in that game Virat took a lot of balls to get to his 100 and he was not playing big shots. If you watch his century again, maybe you will realize what I was saying," the former Pakistan allrounder explained.

"For me, personal milestones should go away from cricket. Your 50s, your 100s, your 5 wickets – as fan of cricket we don’t want to watch these kind of 50s and hundreds if they are not in a winning cause. In the game of cricket, even one run matters,” he added.

Virat Kohli took nine balls after his 90th run to reach his hundred in that match. He hit a four when he was on 93 and completed his century in 119 balls.

India scored 326-5 in that match thanks to Kohli's unbeaten 101 off 121 balls. In reply, South Africa were bundled out for a meager 83 runs with Ravindra Jadeja picking up a five-wicket haul. India went on to win the match by 243 runs.