Virat Kohli, a former captain of India, recently made some headlines when he claimed that no one had personally contacted him when he was going through a difficult time. In his address to the PC following Pakistan's five-wicket victory against India on Sunday in the Asia Cup Super 4, Kohli described his frame of mind at the time and used an instance from January to illustrate. When stepping down as India's Test captain, an emotional Kohli claimed a lack of support, alleging that nobody messaged him aside from MS Dhoni.

"When I left the Test captaincy, MS Dhoni was the only one among all the cricketers I had played with before who texted me. A lot of people have my number but he was the only one who texted me. It comes from the genuine respect that we have for each other. There is no insecurity from either end in our equation. These things matter. I live my life with honesty and these things matter for me. I just want to say this, if I have to tell someone about their game, I reach out individually. Even if I have to reach out to them, I do it personally," Kohli had said.

It is clear from Kohli's incendiary remarks that he was somehow influenced by the whole captaincy scandal, which resulted in the BCCI removing him as India's ODI skipper not long after he opted to step down as the T20I captain following the World Cup last year. But it appears that several former Indian cricketers were not too pleased with Kohli's comments. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar questioned the timing of the comment and suggested that Virat should have named the individuals after asking what Kohli might have been anticipating. Legendary all-rounder Madan Lal believes that the comment may prove to be a distraction during a match as important and significant as the Asia Cup.

"Virat shouldn't have made such a comment at such a time. See you are playing important matches, in the middle of a tournament where you need to qualify for the final. It's great that you have returned to form. Even if someone calls or doesn't call, if you are in trouble you have to work on it. He should have said it a couple of months earlier as well. If you're not in the best of nicks, you have to approach it yourself. Ego shouldn't clash here," Lal said on Sports Tak.

With scores of 35, 59 not out, and 60 in the present Asia Cup, Kohli has looked in fantastic shape after making his six-week return to first-class cricket. With a spot in the final up for grabs, India will be looking for nothing less from their star batter when they play Sri Lanka later tonight and Afghanistan on Thursday. Kohli appears to be regaining his flow slowly but surely.

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