Sunil Gavaskar Hits Back After Virat Kohli's Strike Rate Critics Rant, Says 'If You Want Applause...'

Sunil Gavaskar hits back at Virat Kohli: While the RCB star had spoken about those criticising his strike rate, the ex-India cricketer has now spoken has hit back.

Sunil Gavaskar, India's cricketing legend, has responded to Virat Kohli's strike critics rate rant which he gave after starring in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) win over Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Kohli had remained not out on 70 off 24 balls as RCB had defeated GT. Post the match, Kohli said that for him it was about winning the game for his team and he has done it for over a decade and a half.

However, Gavaskar has seemingly responded to Kohli's fiery rant. He reckoned that an observation was made on the basis of what was on display and if the batter wants applause for a strike rate of 118 then it's a different story.

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"Commentators questioned only when the strike rate was 118. I'm not too sure. I don't watch too many matches, so I don't know what the other commentators have said otherwise. But if you have a strike of 118 and then you get out in the 14th or the 15th with a strike-rate of 118, I mean, if you want applause for that, that's a little bit different. That's different,"  Gavaskar said on Star Sports during their pre-match show of RCB's home match against GT at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Why Are You Replying To Any Outside Noise, Asks Gavaskar

Gavaskar then went on to talk about the term 'outside noise' which several of the modern-day cricketers representing India at the highest level have said when asked to share their opinion on what is being discussed by former cricketers or pundits.

"When you talk about all these guys talk about, oh we don't care about outside noise. Then why are you replying to any outside noise or whatever it is. We all played a bit of cricket, not a lot of cricket. We don't have agendas. We speak about what we see. We don't necessarily have any likes and dislikes. Even if we have likes and dislikes, we actually speak on what is happening," he added.