'I Copped a Lot of Abuse': Kusal Mendis Says he Should Have Congratulated Virat Kohli on Hitting 49th ODI Century

Kusal Mendis may have not visualised the impact of his nonchalant response to an unrelated query thrown at him as he addressed media ahead of Sri Lanka’s 2023 world cup match against Bangladesh in India earlier this month.

Mendis took over Sri Lanka’s captaincy following an injury to Dasun Shanaka midway through the team’s world cup campaign which ended with a ninth-place finish on the points table.

Besides Sri Lanka’s disappointing on-field show, Mendis’ response to a reporter’s question on congratulating India batter Virat Kohli on hitting 49th century also hit the headlines.

Mendis was bemused at first before responding with a question of his own: “Why would I congratulate him?”

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The Sri Lankan batter revealed that he copped a lot of abuse following his statement and that in hindsight, he should’ve wished Kohli considering the enormity of the milestone – equalling the all-time record of most ODI centuries.

“After that I copped a lot of abuse. Everyone knows how good a player Virat Kohli is so, yeah, I probably should have wished him at that time,” Mendis was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Mendis though says he wasn’t aware about Kohli’s score and got confused why the question was put to him in the first place since the conference was for Sri Lanka-Bangladesh game.

“That day we went first for practice, after which there was the presser. The day after was the Bangladesh game. When I went there I had no idea how much Virat Kohli had scored, all I knew was that there was a game. So when I was asked that question, I was initially confused because this was a media conference with regard to Bangladesh-Sri Lanka game,” he said.

“But looking back I know I was probably wrong in how I reacted, because scoring 49 centuries is no easy feat. As a batter, I know how difficult that is, but at that point I wasn’t really clear on what was being asked,” he added.