Daily Times

NEW DELHI: In a surprising development, Indian cricket team’s captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday claimed moral victory in two champion’s trophy matches his team lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, one being the tournament’s final match.

Perhaps irked by the Indian media’s persistent queries about what “actually went wrong” in the final against Pakistan, the Indian captain maintained that he learnt the phrase from Pakistan’s former captain and cricketer-turned-politician’s party.

“I am a great fan of Imran Khan and if he has the liberty to use cricketing terms in politics, I too should be allowed to take a leaf from his book and declare moral victories each time I lose an important match, so I hereby declare moral victory in Champions Trophy final against Pakistan and the group match against Sri Lanka,” said Kohli.

The Indian captain explained that in the group match against Sri Lanka, his team allowed an underdog to win against them just to boost their confidence thereby claiming a moral victory.

“Against the final in Pakistan, we surprised all at home and silenced the likes of Rishi Kapoor and Virender Sehwag, giving them a lesson in humility. Not only them but we let our whole nation realise once again that cricket is just a game and any team can win it on any day, it is a moral gain and so I think the defeat actually was a moral victory,” said Kohli.

Sri Lanka chased down India’s 321 to upset defending champions India by seven wickets while Pakistan lifted the Champions Trophy for the first time by defeating India by a massive score line of 180 runs in the tournament’s final.

He revealed that he learnt about the phrase and the use of the phrase when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Dr. Yasmeen Rashid lost the NA-120 by-polls in Pakistan’s Lahore city to former PM’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz.

“She was on a channel and even that channel was terming it Ikhlaqi Jeet (moral victory),” Kohli concluded.

Imran Khan-led PTI claimed to have gained a moral victory despite losing the NA-120 by-election in Lahore to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharifs ailing wife, saying the slim margin of PML-N’s win is in fact a defeat for the ruling party.

*If it wasn’t utterly clear, this is a satire piece.

The writer is a digital journalist who works for ARY News and has in the past worked for DAWN.com. He loves to write political satire. He tweets @anees_avis