Kohli’s imitation of the West Indian pacers’ notebook celebration got the rivalry between the two into the limelight
Kesrick Williams’ name pops up in everyone’s mind with his special notebook celebration where he would tick off the names of the batters whenever he would take wickets as if he were ticking off the homework by his wards in a school.
The celebration got even more fame after India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli did his own version of it, ticking off in his notebook after he hit Williams for a boundary every time during a 2019 T20I encounter in Hyderabad against the West Indies.
In a recent interaction with media during his visit to Kolkata for the opening of a restaurant, The Dugout, Williams reminisced about the on-field fight with the modern-day great that occurred five years ago.
“It really wasn’t a fight. It was more of a heat-of-the-moment kind of situation. Virat Kohli is a fighter in the field. He is one of the best cricketers in India and probably the best cricketer that has walked the planet. He has a fight in him whenever he walks in on the field, and that’s the dog I also have in him,” Williams said at the event in Kolkata.
Delving into the details of the first interaction between the two of them at Sabina Park in Jamaica, where Williams got Kohli out and celebrated in his unique style.
The 34-year-old said, “The day it happened, I had not planned it at all. It was not like if I get Virat Kohli out, I was going to do this and that. It was just one of those days when I got his wicket, and I celebrated.”
“He got the best of me in the next game [ in Hyderabad], and I got the best of him in the game that followed after the next game [in Kerala],” he added, talking about the first two games of the series that happened in India two years after the first incident.
But Williams has no qualms about whatever happened between him and Kohli, saying that it was all done in the spirit of cricket.
“There is no bad blood between us. It ended with India winning the series [in India]. It ended with me having a great spell against him in that last game in Mumbai as well,” said the man from St Vincent and the Grenadines. In that game in Mumbai, Kohli could hit only one six against Williams in the seven balls that he faced off the West Indian.
What could happen if the two faced each other again? According to Williams, “If I ever play IPL and me and Kohli are on different teams, I will have a go at him again.”
Photo Credit: X user- @katyxkohli17
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here
