Kyle Jamieson of New Zealand has been lauded across the world for his outstanding performance in the ICC World Test Championship final against India. The tall and lanky fast bowler made the headlines with a total of seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul, in the game. The Kiwis triumphed by eight wickets and grabbed the coveted championship at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, thanks to his performances.
Apart from his bowling, Jamieson was the buzz of the town after dismissing Virat Kohli in both innings. Both players were extensively observed at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) camp for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, but the RCB captain was the target.
However, during the WTC final, there was widespread speculation that Kohli had ordered Jamieson to bowl him with Dukes’ balls in the nets. RCB all-rounder Dan Christian made these comments when appearing on a podcast during the IPL. On the other hand, Jamieson has denied the claims, claiming that his relationship with Kohli was not as exciting as it looked in the media.
Jamieson on the incident
“No, it wasn’t so much him asking. I think it was Dan just sort of adding some stuff for a good story. We were just talking about it at the start of the IPL with the cricket coming up with our UK tour and theirs as well and I mentioned that I had some dukes balls, he had some dukes balls as well,” Jamieson said.
“He just said look at the back end if we want to do some training, we’ll do that but there was no specificity around me bowing to him or, or giving him a look, but whether he was insinuating something that’s something he could tell you but obviously quite a funny story that’s unfolded,” he added.
Jamieson spoke about sharing the dressing room with Virat Kohli during the IPL. He said, “He’s a world-class player and just to spend time observing how he operates and how he goes about things both on and off the field was pretty cool and you know it’s nice just to be able to be friendly out in the middle even just having a bit of a laugh and a joke, while the game was going on.”
