Virat Kohli, one of the greatest batters of all time, is known for being a crowd puller no matter where and when he plays. Especially when Kohli comes out to bat, fans inside the stadium get on the edge of their seats to cheer for the modern-day batting great. However, as per Kohli, an unusual incident occurred with him in England, in 2008 at Edgbaston when he was booed by a massive crowd of 35,000 spectators.
Speaking in the Royal Challengers Bangalore Podcast Season 2, Kohli recalled," My heart was pumping because all I could think of was the flashes of 2014. I walked in, and there were about 35,000 people at the stadium, and they all started booing the moment I entered the field. My heart started beating faster. They have this amazing ability to create an environment where you feel like I have got no chance here."
Whenever Virat plays on English soil, fans and cricket pundits all over the world wait for his enthralling battle with legendary England pacer James Anderson. During India's tour of England in 2014, lethal swing bowler Anderson turned out to be Kohli's biggest nightmare, ensuring the tour ends up to be a huge disaster for the Indian batter. Back in the 2014 Test series, Anderson had dismissed Kohli at least 4 times. The star batter scored just 134 runs in 10 Test innings vs England.
When India toured England again in 2018, the spectators wanted to create pressure on Kohli by reminding him of his past failures. However, the Indian batting icon made a strong statement in the 2018 tour.
"I remember James Anderson was the guy running with the ball, and I was like, what are the odds here I am facing the first ball from him again after four years. In my mind, I was like ‘please just play the first ball and he bowled it at the fourth stump and I left that ball’. I became calm after that first ball and then I got dropped at 22,” Kohli said, adding that “I could have got out on 22 in that innings but I got 149 and I didn’t look back from there, so that’s when you realised that you just can’t sit there and crib about things that didn’t go right. There are a lot of things that went right. So much weight was lifted from my shoulder.”