India's star batter Virat Kohli has been an inspiration to many budding cricketers over the years. Recently, Nepal's bowling all-rounder Sompal Kami revealed his interaction with Kohli back in 2023 when India played a match against Nepal in the Asia Cup. In that game, Nepal scored 230 runs but India went on to win the match. The game was rain-affected and the Men in Blue won by 10 wickets because of DLS method. 

Kami opened up about the conversations that happened with Kohli and how he spoke to him in Punjabi. The legendary batter was astonished to hear Sompal speak in an Indian language. Later, he signed the jersey and spoke about the game. Kami had scored 48 runs in the match against India. 

"Virat Kohli is an inspiration for us. He is the man who changed cricket. I spoke Punjabi with him & he said, ‘You speak Punjabi?’. I came from Nepal prepared to get his T-shirt. I love him so much. I used to watch him, Rohit, and Jadeja playing on TV, so playing against them felt like a dream. I scored 48 in that match," said Kami during a podcast. 

Watch the video here:

🚨 Nepal Cricketer Sompal Kami said, 🗣️

"Virat Kohli is an inspiration for us. He is the man who changed cricket. I spoke Punjabi with him & he said, ‘You speak Punjabi?’. I came from Nepal prepared to get his T-shirt. I love him so much. I used to watch him, Rohit, and Jadeja… pic.twitter.com/4d2JwlLFfj

— ICC Asia Cricket (@ICCAsiaCrickett) February 22, 2026

How was Sompal Kami's performance in T20 World Cup 2026

Nepal were placed in Group C in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 along with West Indies, England, Scotland and Italy. They managed to win just one game in this tournament against Scotland in the last match. Sompal Kami played only one game in the tournament where he scored an unbeaten 26 off 15 balls, including four boundaries. 

It wasn't a dream World Cup campaign for Nepal, but they surely will take the win in the last game as a huge positive takeaway. They have many talented players in the squad but the lack of proper exposure is the reason behind defeat in such tournament.