Watch: Virat Kohli Urges Crowd To Cheer For Mohammed Shami And Not Him

Virat Kohli’s maturity as a batsman and a captain has been drawing praise from all over in recent times. The India skipper burst onto the scene as a brash individual but has transformed remarkably well. He had won praise from all over when he famously asked the Indian crowd not to boo but praise Steve Smith in this year’s World Cup.

And the star batsman came up with a similar gesture on Thursday although this time for his own teammate. Kohli was seen asking the crowd to cheer for Mohammed Shami and get behind the fast bowler as he got ready to bowl the final over before the tea break on Day 1 of the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore.

The fans were seen cheering for Kohli but the skipper instead asked them to get behind the fast-bowler. Shami then responded to the support brilliantly by taking two wickets off successive deliveries just before the interval. The right-arm pacer removed Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan with his final two deliveries of the 54th over but couldn’t take a hat-trick.

India though completed a team hat-trick as Ishant Sharma removed Liton Das with his very first delivery after the tea break. At the end of the day, BCCI posted a clip of the moment where Kohli could be seen urging the crowd to get behind Shami and not him.

All heart – Captain @imVkohli asks the crowd to cheer for an on fire @MdShami11 ???????? #TeamIndia #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/IEk2GY537Y

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 14, 2019

Shami ended the innings as India’s best bowler, picking up 3 for 27 from 13 overs. India, on the other hand, put themselves in the driver’s seat by bowling out the visitors for just 150. Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav picked up two wickets each. India finished the day at 86 for 1 with Cheteshwar Pujara (43 not out) and Mayank Agarwal (37 not out) at the crease.

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