South Africa cricketer calls Kohli’s on-field behaviour “immature”

India will begin their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign against South Africa on 5 June and it seems that the war has begun.

South Africa’s premier pacer Kagiso Rabada has called Virat Kohli’s behaviour on the field as ‘immature’. During this season of IPL in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals, Rabada and Kohli had a face-off.

One thing that infuriated Rabada

Rabada recalled this year’s IPL when Kohli smashed Rabada for a boundary and then involved in a bit of talk with the bowler. Rabada feels that Kohli is immature because he feels it’s okay when he does a little banter, but he can’t take it back and that he gets angry.

“I was just thinking about the game plan, really, but Virat, he hit me for a boundary and then he had a word. And then when you give it back to him, he gets angry. I don’t get the guy. Maybe he does it because it gets him going, but that comes across as very immature for me. He is a phenomenal player but he can’t take the abuse,” Rabada said in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.

“You have to think about what you are going to do, because the wicket was good. All it was was a verbal fight. Something like that will not distract me. If anything, it is just going to wake me up to hit my areas a lot more consistently,” Rabada added.

Read: Huge boost for Team India ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 opener

Anger, a tool for Kohli?

Rabada then further thought that anger might be a tool for Kohli to play better. But later that evening, on the bus back to the hotel, I asked myself: ‘That guy [Kohli] always seems to be angry on the field. Is he really angry?’ Then I thought to myself what it would take for me to become really, really angry. That is going to happen very few and far times in between. And becoming angry like that – is that what gets him to play well? Do you know what I am saying? I can’t psyche myself to be angry,” Rabada said.

South African speedster #KagisoRabada spoke about an incident happened in IPL 2019, called #ViratKohli an 'immature'.#Southafrica #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/pQTzllQSBo

— India Fantasy (@india_fantasy) June 1, 2019