New Delhi: Former Australian Shane Watson has advised Pat Cummins and Co. to avoid getting into confrontations with senior Indian batter Virat Kohli in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The former Indian captain will be on his fifth tour to Australia to play Test series.
Kohli is one of the rare overseas players who has found tremendous success in Australia with the bat. He is one of those players who instill fear in the mind of the home side and this is evident with the Australian media coverage in the build-up to the Test series extravaganza Down Under.
The Delhi-born player has been involved in some heated arguments with the Australian players on the field, sparking on-field controversies. Shane Watson, who has played 13 Test matches against India between 2008 and 2015, which included Kohli visiting Australia in 2011-12 and 2014-15 tours, feels that the Indian batter loves moments of high intensity.
“The one thing that I know of Virat is… because the fire burns so brightly and deep inside him, the intensity he brings to every ball that he is engaged in a game has been super human. But there has been in recent times where moments in this career that fire has started to go out because it is just so hard to maintain that intensity in every moment he is involved in a game,” Watson said on the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast.
“And that is where Australia have to leave him alone and hope he doesn’t bring the intensity that 9 out of 10 intensity to every ball,” he added.
Virat Kohli has played 13 Test matches in Australia, having scored 1352 runs at an average of 54.08 with the help of six centuries and four fifties. The vintage Kohli show was seen in the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when he piled up 692 runs at 86.50 with four centuries fired from his willow on that tour.
“We have seen that when he has had success in Australia he is up and above for everything in the middle — every ball he is up for every single moment. You can see the fierce intensity that he brings and if he gets that then it shuts everything else out,” Watson said.
“That is when he is at his absolute best. If there is stuff happening around and that intensity is not there, that is when you will see the not so best version of Virat. So from Australian perspective let’s hope we get to see that version of him,” he added.
India and Australia will start with the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth from November 22 to 26.
Former Australian Shane Watson has advised Pat Cummins and Co. to avoid getting into confrontations with senior Indian batter Virat Kohli in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The former Indian captain will be on his fifth tour to Australia to play Test series. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
