Half of the opposition players shiver seeing Virat Kohli: Umpire Anil Chaudhary

Former Indian umpire Anil Chaudhary has revealed that half of the opposition players shiver whenever they see Virat Kohli play against their team. Talking about Kohli’s retirement from the longest format of the game, Chaudhary stated it would be a big loss to the Indian team.

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"It is a big loss to the Indian team. When Virat is in the middle, the pressure that the other team feels, I can tell because I have seen it while umpiring. Half of the opposition players shiver seeing him, I am telling you this literally,” Anil Chaudhary said on an Indian Express podcast.

Furthermore, Anil asserted that the opposition will always have their attention on Kohli whenever he’s part of the game. Moreover, he added that the retirement decision was his personal one and he couldn’t dissect any reason for that.

“Half of the opposition team's attention is on where is Virat and what he is doing. He has a lot of impact on the opposition. Whether he scores runs or not, he is a machine in himself. And that pressure is gone now. It may have been his personal reason. I cannot tell why. It was surprising. I thought he would play this and the Australia series," he added.

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Subsequently, Anil reckoned that Virat’s energy on the field has always shocked him. Later, he added that maybe Kohli felt that he couldn't give his 100% on the field in red-ball format, which was the reason behind his retirement. 

"Have you seen the Australians? I had gone to umpire in an exchange game. You look at their players in the morning and evening, you will not realize which session is going on. Virat has the same energy level. I sometimes get shocked when I see how he can stay like this the whole day. Look at his walk even. There is so much aggression and energy. So much passion. He can only play at 100%. Even if he felt it was 99.9 he would have thought I cannot now. Maybe this would only be the reason,” he stated.

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