Former English batsman says Virat Kohli ‘most foul-mouthed’

Indian captain Virat Kohli’s recent run in with English bowler James Anderson has prompted former England batsman Nick Compton to say that Kohli is the “most foul-mouthed individual”.

“Isn’t Kohli the most foul-mouthed individual. I’ll Never forget the barrage of abuse I received in 2012 when the swearing stunned me to the point that he did himself a serious disservice. It highlights what a level headed and grounded man Root, Tendulkar, Williamson et al are,” said Compton.

Nick is the grandson of Denis Compton, the legendary former England batsman, who played against India in the English summers of 1946 and 1952.

Virat Kohli is arguably the finest batsman in the world today, but he has temper issues and is known to lose his cool at the drop of a hat. India’s win/loss ratio of 2.857 in his tenure as captain is by far the highest for any team. However, the Delhi batsman has temper issues and is known to lose his cool at the drop of a hat.

Recently, on the penultimate day of the second Test at Lord’s, Kohli had a heated exchange of words with English pacer James Anderson. It started after the Indian skipper went up to the umpire and asked him to take a look at Anderson’s run-up as the pacer was allegedly running into the pitch. Tempers flared between the two with Kohli telling the paceman, “This isn’t your fu**ing backyard”. On Day 5, Jasprit Bumrah and Jos Buttler got into a spat. Bumrah took it up with umpire Richard Illingworth, who appeared to be trying to calm down the Indian pacer. As Bumrah lost his cool and almost looked unstoppable, umpire Illingworth asked him to “zip it up”. Meanwhile, Kohli looked unimpressed with what was happening on the ground and even cheered up Bumrah, who played an important partnership with Shami to help India win the Test.

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Kohli is known for losing his cool and is prone to a few indiscretions every once in a while.

In 2011-12, during the India’s tour of Australia, Kohli was fined 50% of his match fees after he was seen showing the middle finger to the crowd as a reaction to some hostile provocation from the crowd.

In Perth, in 2015, the Delhi batsman misbehaved with a newspaper journalist ahead of India’s World Cup match against West Indies, mistaking him for another journalist who had written a story about Kohli and Anushka Sharma.

In the same year, during another Test, Kohli reached his century and let fly a volley of abuses and vented his anger through his celebration.

Kohli also has had verbal duels with journalists like the one he had after a loss in South Africa in 2018.