Llyod slams Virat Kohli for disrespecting umpires

New Delhi: Former England cricketer David Llyod has slammed Indian captain Virat Kohli for ‘disrespecting and pressuring’ umpires during the ongoing series between India and England. Llyod’s criticism for Kohli comes in the wake of the Indian skipper’s comments against the contentious ‘umpire’s call’ rule in cricket.

Talking about Dawid Malan’s controversial catch of Suryakumar Yadav in the 4th T20I, Llyod criticised Kohli for suggesting that England were trying to pressurise the on-field umpire to give out as soft-signal. As it turned out, the umpire did give the soft signal as out and Suryakumar had to walk back despite the catch being a debatable one as the replays clearly showed that the ball had slipped out of Malan’s hands at one point and had touched the ground.

Llyod said he doesn’t know if England were trying to influence the umpire to give the soft signal in their favour but Kohli’s behaviour towards the on-field officials has been unacceptable for him. He said the Indian skipper has been ‘pressuring, disrespecting, and remonstrating’ with umpires in England’s ongoing tour of India.

“Kohli also suggested England were pressuring umpires to give the ‘soft signal’ as out when Dawid Malan took a low catch in the fourth T20. Firstly, the soft signal is there to leave as much authority as possible with the on-field umpires,”  Lloyd wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

“And I don’t know if England put pressure on Nitin Menon in Ahmedabad, but I do know one thing — Kohli has been pressuring, disrespecting and remonstrating with umpires throughout this tour,” he added.

Llyod also took a dig at the International Cricket Council (ICC) for being ‘toothless’ and not taking any action against India and Kohli for their on-field behaviour.

“There have also been a number of altercations in India which, when copied, will permeate through every level. There was another on Tuesday near the end of the India innings. You should not confront an opposition player on the field. It’s just not done. And the toothless International Cricket Council have done nothing,” he wrote.

Llyod’s comments on Kohli have come after the Indian skipper had recently shared his stance on the ‘umpire’s call’ rule, stating that it is creating a lot of confusion. Kohli had batted for umpire’s call to be not taken into consideration if the ball is clipping the stumps in case of an LBW decision.

“Look, I have played a long time when then there was no DRS, right? If the umpire made a decision, whether the batsman liked it or not, it stayed like that; vice-versa if the umpire gave him not out and it was out it stayed like that whether it was marginal or not. According to me, umpire’s call right now is creating a lot of confusion. When you get bowled, as a batsman you don’t expect the ball to hit more than 50% of the stumps to consider yourself bowled. So when the ball is shown as clipping the stumps, the bails are going to fall,” Kohli had said in the pre-match press conference ahead of 1st ODI on Tuesday.

Criticising Kohli for his take on the umpire’s call, Llyod said the Indian skipper should also take the consequences of removing the rule into account, claiming that if the rule is removed, ODIs and Test matches will be over in much less time.

“Take Virat Kohli. Before the first ODI the India captain said umpire’s call should be removed from the decision review system and if the ball is shown to be hitting any part of the stumps it should be given out,” Llyod said.

“Kohli does not seem to have taken the consequences into account. If everything is out, including when the ball is just clipping the bails, then all Tests would be over in two days. An ODI would be over in four hours,” he added.