ENG vs IND 2018: Virat Kohli Causes Stir By Refusing To Give Interview To BBC After Trent Bridge Win

Virat Kohli has been grabbing the headlines for all the right reasons in the last few weeks. Kohli has throughly dominated England with the bat in the ongoing Test series. However, on Wednesday, the India skipper was all over the news for the reason he would definitely like to avoid.  It all began after the conclusion of the third England vs India Test at Trent Bridge.

As soon as the game finished, BBC’s Test Match Special commentator Jonathan Agnew approached Kohli for the scheduled interview. But to everyone’s surprise, Kohli directly declined to give the interview. Not surprisingly, Kohli’s refusal has cause quite a stir in England as well as social media.

Aggers is chatting to the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, and look who’s listening in to the interview…!

? @5liveSport extra
? https://t.co/bbFwlvCeqf
? https://t.co/aAOCV1QXFC#bbccricket #ENGvsIND pic.twitter.com/nzQiRJt1K8

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) August 9, 2018

In fact, Agnew himself took to Twitter to comment on the issue. One fan stated that Kohli’s gesture was disrespectful.

@imVkohli disrespectful to ignore @Aggerscricket and refuse his request for a quick interview. @bbctms is a well respected broadcaster and has been pivotal in raising the profile of cricket around the world ???

— Stephen Foster (@foster2406) August 22, 2018

Re-tweeting that tweet, Agnew blamed Indian team’s press officer Moulin Parikh for the incident, tweeting:

https://twitter.com/Aggerscricket/status/1032220946516635648

Here are some reactions from the fans:

Let it go Aggers. It’s just not worth the hassle.

— Jenny (@jennyah46) August 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/Aggerscricket/status/1032269695334985733?

That’s just wrong. Have to do interviews with the host broadcaster. Self defeating otherwise.

— Cllr Jonathan Collett (@JonCollett) August 22, 2018

There are thousand & one. One media conference is fine.

— Makarand Waingankar (@wmakarand) August 22, 2018

There are Sky Sports & Channel 5 too as host broadcasters. Is it in the contract that you will get to interview the Indian capt after every match ? Weren't the media told that the Head coach will be addressing the media.

— Makarand Waingankar (@wmakarand) August 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/prafful1104/status/1032254889223630848?

Thousands of listeners care about @bbctms

— Simon Carter (@retracnomis76) August 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/prafful1104/status/1032303383279894529?

Not about publicity, not about England, India or Kohli, its about cricket fans all around the world who don't have access to live tv broadcasts who listen @bbctms as there only link to test cricket. Cricket is bigger than Kohli and he and all players should be wise to it…

— Swifty (@claretlad76) August 22, 2018

Coming to the game, India thrashed England by 203 runs in the third England vs India Test to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Asked to bat first in testing conditions, the team rode on fifties from Kohli (97) and Ajinkya Rahane (81) to post a challenging 329.  In reply, England were all out for just 161. Hardik Pandya was the star of the show, picking up his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests for just 28 runs.

India’s batting clicked in the second essay too. Kohli once again led from the front, scoring a sublime 103. Cheteshwar Pujara and Hardik Pandya also scored fifties as India declared their innings on 352 for 7, thus setting England a target of 521. England were staring down the barrel after being reduced to 62 for 4. Jos Buttler then scored his maiden Test ton, scoring 106 and added 169 runs with Ben Stokes to give his team a glimmer of hope.

However, Jasprit Bumrah ran through the middle and lower-order, picking up 5 wickets to give India the much-needed win.

The crucial fourth Test will get underway at The Ageas Bowl, Southampton on August 30.