Perth: Former Australia captain Allan Border defended Virat Kohli’s aggression, saying cricket needs characters like the Indian skipper who exude passion on the field.
“There’s not many characters in our game at the moment. The professional era has sort of beaten that out to a certain degree,’ Border said on Fox Cricket’s podcast — The Follow-on. Kohli has received severe criticism from the likes of Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson and Sanjay Manjrekar for his aggressive celebrations in the ongoing Test series in Australia.
The Indian skipper was also involved in a series of heated exchanges with his Australian counterpart Tim Paine, which prompted umpire Chris Gaffney to intervene during the second Test here.
“I haven’t seen anyone sort of carrying on so much as a captain when his side takes a wicket. It’s really over the top but it’s good in a way. You can see some passion about what he’s trying to do,’
Border said.
Border added that perhaps Kohli’s aggression stems from the desire to cement his legacy with an away series victory. “He’s so keen to win away from home and really deserve that number one ranking that’s your KPIs (key performance indicators) as a captain I suppose,” he said.
Under Kohli, India suffered two back-to-back away series defeats against South Africa and England this year. “To drive the team to be number one, which he has achieved, but to win away from home is one of those important things you notice as a captain.”
Border also opined that as the leader, Kohli feels the need to manifest the passion and drive. “I think he’s feeling that pinch. If you look at this Indian side he’s probably the only one that has the character to get really animated,’ he said. “The rest of the Indian boys are very good cricketers but seem to be a quiet bunch and maybe Kohli feels as skipper he needs to lead from the front and really show some passion and drive. I think it just comes naturally to him,” he added.
Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar, former India pacers also believed that Virat Kohli should remain the way he is. staunchly defending the combative India captain, who has copped criticism from Australian legends for his on-field behaviour.
“I would say (Virat) stick to what you know best. Stick to what has got you so much of success. You can’t move away from your success formula. It doesn’t matter what others are saying (about Kohli). Series in Australia have always been (intense) like this,” former pace spearhead Zaheer told PTI.
Ex-India pacer Praveen Kumar could not agree more with Zaheer. “Kohli played with aggression at the U-16, U-19 and Ranji Trophy level. What is the issue if he is showing the same aggression while playing for India? I have played a lot of cricket with him and I can safely say that he can’t play his best cricket without aggression,” said Kumar, a fine swing bowler in his heydays.
Both Zaheer and Praveen also raved about the performance of India’s pace attack which has helped the team take 40 wickets in the opening two Tests. “They have been spot on with the execution of their plans. Bumrah has been providing that X factor, Shami has been in great form, Ishant has used his experience very well, someone like Bhuvneshwar is waiting for his turn and Umesh has got heaps of potential. Even though Umesh has had a tough game in Perth, he has the ability to take two-three quick wickets like Bumrah and Shami.”
Zaheer called the current attack as India’s best ever. “I think as a unit, yes (they are the best ever) when you look at the four-five fast bowlers on tour. In a long long time, you can see the potential of each and every fast bowler including the bench strength,” he said.
One of India’s finest seamers, Zaheer said the visitors remain favourites to win the series despite being outplayed in the second Test. “The fact that you won the first Test, it was never going to be easy after that. The Australian team was actually on the backfoot after Adelaide but now the series is levelled. But before India departed for Australia, they were billed as favourites. They still are,” added Zaheer.