Shadab Khan has named Virat Kohli as the opponent who surprised him most. Speaking on Beard Before Wicket, the YouTube show hosted by Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, the Pakistan all-rounder said the Kohli he met was nothing like the one he had watched on TV.
He expected aggression. Instead, Kohli asked if he spoke Punjabi, and the two have talked in Punjabi ever since. It is a rare soft moment in a rivalry where Kohli is the batter Pakistan fear, as Mohammad Amir admitted when naming his toughest opponents.
What the cameras showed Shadab was Kohli’s aggression on the field. What they never show is how fast that switches off once a batter crosses the rope.
“When I played against Virat Kohli for the first time, he surprised me. How we saw him on TV and (how he was) when I met him were totally different. So I thought, ‘He’s normal’. I speak Punjabi, he asked me, ‘Punjabi?’ and I said yeah. Now as well, whenever we meet, he just talks in Punjabi. So that guy, like, he was a legend of the game at that time as well, like, how he was talking to me, that surprised me. Because I saw his aggression and everything on the field, and when I met him, it was totally different.”
Shadab Khan, Beard Before Wicket, October 2026
🚨He is also a normal human being, he surprised me – Shadab Khan recalls his first meeting with Virat Kohli during 2017 Champions Trophy🤯
Shadab Khan said :🗣️
“When I played against Virat Kohli for the first time, he surprised me. How we saw him on TV and (how he was) when I met him were totally different. So I thought, ‘He’s normal’. I speak Punjabi – he asked me, ‘Punjabi?’ and I said yeah. Now as well, whenever we meet, he just talks in Punjabi. So that guy, like, he was a legend of the game at that time as well, like, how he was talking to me – that surprised me. Because I saw his aggression and everything on the field, and when I met him, it was totally different”.
— Akshat (@Cricketmythos) October 12, 2026
Insider Read
The aggression you see from a great batter is not his personality. It is a tool built for 22 yards and for the one bowler he has to beat next ball. When the contest ends, there is nothing left to fight, so the tool goes back in the kit bag.
A young bowler has only ever met that tool, through a screen. So the first real conversation feels like meeting a different man, when it is the same man with the contest over. Most young players learn this only when a legend walks up first and speaks to them in their own language.
Where It Started: Champions Trophy 2017
Shadab’s first matches against Kohli came at the 2017 Champions Trophy, when he was 18. At Edgbaston, Kohli made 81 not out off 68 balls as India won by 124 runs on DLS. Shadab took Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket.
In the final at The Oval, Azhar Ali dropped Kohli at first slip on 5. Off Mohammad Amir’s next ball, Kohli’s leading edge went straight to Shadab at point. Pakistan won by 180 runs.
This is not the first time Shadab has said it. In January 2025, he told Geo’s Hasna Mana Hai that Kohli is down to earth and starts the conversation himself.
The warmth sits beside a cold rivalry. India have refused handshakes with Pakistan since the 2025 Asia Cup, and the policy held at the Women’s Asia Cup in September 2026. On the same show, Moeen said Kohli stays calmer against Pakistan because he knows the match is bigger than that, and called the handshake row political.
Also Read:
One Response