Shoaib Akhtar smells conspiracy against Virat Kohli in Indian cricket

The last few months haven't been great for Indian cricket. They were knocked out of the 20-20 WC 2021 in the Super 12 stages. Later, in shocking developments, the BCCI axed Virat Kohli as the ODI skipper. The Asian side then went on to lose both, the Test series, as well as the ODI series against South Africa.

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To make matters worse, Kohli recently announced his decision to step down as India's captain in the longest format of the game as well. Thus, the atmosphere in Indian cricket has been chaotic, to say the least. In what comes as a big statement, Shoaib Akhtar claimed that there are lobbies in Indian cricket, which forced the batting maestro to step down as India's captain from two formats within a matter of months.

“It was a tight scenario for Virat. I was in Dubai and I was aware that if he wouldn’t have won the T20 World Cup, it would have become a big problem for him and it did happen. There are lobbies against him and there are people against him and that is the reason why he stepped down," said Akhtar in a chat with India Today.

However, Akhtar felt that Kohli can now play freely after giving up leadership responsibilities. He also went on to speak about the Delhi batter's stature and said that the great batter should now focus on taking the team forward without thinking much about the past.

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“Now that he is off the hook, he just has to make sure that he enjoys his cricket. He is great and he should know that, and he just has to enhance his value. He should know that he can’t be imprisoned for his own bitterness. Virat should forget and forgive people," Akhtar added.