England women’s cricketer Danielle Wyatt recently made some comments that may not go down well with Indian and Virat Kohli fans. Wyatt revealed that the bat gifted to her by the Indian batting stalwart was not good enough and she could only use it twice.
Kohli gifted her a bat during India’s tour of England in 2014. The gesture came months after the English batter expressed her admiration for the former India captain on social media by posting “Kholi marry me!!!”
Kholi marry me!!!
— Danielle Wyatt (@Danni_Wyatt) April 4, 2014
Notably, she used the gifted bat during the 2018 England Women’s tour of India. Meanwhile, in a recent Q&A session with The Quint, Wyatt revealed that he hasn’t used that bat much because it’s not of good quality.
“It [The bat gifted by Kohli] was not really good, I only used it twice”
Another question popped up to choose between football legend David Beckham and Kohli. She picked Beckham, adding that the English footballer was always her idol growing up. “Definitely, David Beckham, he’s always been my idol growing up”.
When asked about her favourite opponent, Wyatt named India Women. “Love playing India against because I’ve had success against them in the past.” Notably, she has a T20I ton (124 at Brabourne Stadium in 2018) against the Women in Blue.
She singled out India’s vice-captain and opener Smriti Mandhana as a player who wants to be a part of England. The two shared great camaraderie during their stint at Southern Braves in The Hundred.
“Smriti Mandhana, I love batting with her in The Hundred. We bat well together. She has strengths and weaknesses, so I do I have. We complement each other quite well.”
Wyatt to play for UP Warriorz in WPL 2024
Danielle Wyatt is set to play for UP Warriorz in the second edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), which starts on Friday, February 23. The right-hander went unsold last year, but this time she got a deal with the UP-based franchise for INR 30 lakh. Warriorz’s first game is against Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
“I was on the team bus, so I wasn’t watching when my name came up. Suddenly I get a series of messages from my friends over in the UK to say, ‘You’ve not been picked.’ I was just a bit embarrassed. I had got my hopes up a lot, which I shouldn’t have done in hindsight. I’d done well in international cricket. I’d been part of BCCI’s Women’s T20 Challenge in India prior to that. I was confident of being picked. But to not get a single bid was pretty heartbreaking,” Wyatt opened up about going unsold at last year’s auction.
