Published 25 Jan, 2022 05:46pm

People aren't impressed with Shoaib Akhtar's comments on Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's marriage

Former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has done it again — he's made a comment that has ticked people off. This time, the subject of his inane comments were Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma. The athlete made a comment about their marriage and said if it were him he wouldn't have married so early into his career.

Fans of the couple have been calling him out online and asking him to keep out of Kohli's personal life.

This isn't the first time Akhtar has been called out for his irresponsible remarks. Many Pakistani celebrities had something to say after the cricketer criticised singer Naseebo Lal for PSL's anthem in 2021.

The former cricketer told Indian publication ANI that "Kohli didn't leave captaincy but was forced to do so. This is not the best of times for him but he needs to prove what he is made of. Is he made of steel or iron? Virat captained for six or seven years and I was never in favour his captaincy, I just wanted him to keep scoring 100, 120 runs and keep the focus on his batting."

He believed that the 33-year-old cricketer, who just resigned from India's Test captaincy, should've focused on making runs and records for 10 or 12 more years instead of settling down.

"I would have not even married if I were in his place. I had just scored runs and enjoyed cricket, these 10 to 12 years of cricket are different time and doesn't come again, I am not saying getting married is wrong but if you are playing for India, you would have enjoyed a time a little and wouldn't divide the responsibility," said Akhtar. Thankfully, he's not Virat Kohli because it seems very clear that Akhtar has little concept of work and personal life boundaries.

Players can be great while having being married — having a family hasn't stopped anyone from performing their best. It's rather sad that Akhtar doesn't understand that.

Fans of both Kohli and Sharma took no time to respond to Akhtar's inane statement. One Twitter user wrote that "most successful men are married," and that the former bowler shouldn't blame one's marriage for their performance on the field.

One user said agreed that Akhtar needs to "mind his own business and stop entering peoples bedroom/privacy."

Another was less kind and said Pakistanis are fed up of his useless statements.

Some fans of the Indian stars called out the former athlete for blaming the wife for her husband's failures. Why in the world would it be her fault anyway?

One user rightly pointed out that people keeping blaming players' personal lives for their on field performances. "There are many other issues because of what one performance can't be good 'inside cricket politics'. No one has a right to drag Virat Kohli personal life into this," they wrote.

Akhtar's comments came right after Sharma and Kohli issued statements asking for media outlets and social media pages to remove pictures of their daughter Vamika.

We hope Akhtar is taking stock of the reaction to his comments and realising that commenting on anyone's personal life isn't okay. Comment on a player's performance and athleticism if you must, but why are you dragging their family into it? If Akhtar decided not to marry while he played cricket, that was his decision, but it isn't mandatory for players to give up their personal lives for cricket.

Read Comments