“Virat Kohli may have done it, he only does such things” – Mohammed Shami shares interesting guess on former Indian captain

Mohammed Shami made his international debut under MS Dhoni, but his best performances came while Virat Kohli was captain of the Indian squad. Shami and Kohli have a wonderful relationship both on and off the pitch. Both have contributed significantly to India’s success in numerous critical matches.

Shami has admitted that he has no idea how his moniker ‘Lala’ came about. The Bengal seamer, however, believes Kohli may have created the name. Shami also stated that he doesn’t understand why he was given the name.

“I also do not know when it became permanent. Virat may have done it. He only does such things. I was just thinking, once, what kind of a name is Lala, even Shahid Afridi had that name. But I did not understand why I had this name. I am not fat. There are people (lala) who do jewelry work, but I don’t do that as well. But when you come to the team, you get some names. If you try to argue about it, they irritate you more in the team. So I let it be,” he said in an interview with News 24.

Shami names one batter who would have troubled him

Shami was asked whether Kohli is the tougher batter to bowl to in the Indian Premier League or Rohit Sharma. The 34-year-old lauded the batting abilities of both the stalwarts of Indian cricket.

“There has been no batter till now in front of me who would come in my dreams, or I have to think a lot about or take pressure before the match. It depends on who is set. Both (Kohli and Rohit) are great players, and both are big individuals in Indian history. They have made a name for themselves,” he said.

Shami said that bowling to Cheteshwar Pujara would have been very difficult. The Amroha-born expressed that he was lucky to be playing in the same team as the recently-retired Pujara in Test cricket.