AUSSIES TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT VIRAT AS INDIA REACH DOWN UNDER

Ahead of the limited-overs series against Australia, former captain Mark Taylor believes current India skipper Virat Kohli is a very powerful guy in world cricket who does a very good job of being a statesman as well as an aggressive cricketer. Also, Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has described Virat Kohli as a polarising figure, saying they love to hate the Indian skipper but they also adore watching him bat.

On Saturday, the entire Indian contingent tested negative for coronavirus and started their training. Though India have begun training, they will remain in quarantine for the first two weeks of their stay in Australia. Team India will begin their Australia tour with white ball fixtures as the One Day Internationals (ODIs) would be played on November 27, 29, and December 2 at Sydney Cricket Ground and at the Manuka Oval in Canberra respectively. The Test series begins from 17-21 December in Adelaide.

Meabwhile, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has described Virat Kohli as a polarising figure, saying that Australian cricketers love to hate the Indian skipper but they also adore watching him bat. “With Virat, it is a funny one—we love to hate him, but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we do not like seeing him score too many runs,” Paine told ABC News, as reported by ESPNCricinfo.

During the 2018-19 tour of Australia, Kohli and Paine were involved in quite a few heated exchanges on the field. During the second Test in Perth, Kohli and Paine had a go at each other a number of times, especially when Paine was batting for Australia. “Australia and India, it’s a heated competition and he’s obviously a competitive person and so am I. So yeah, there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn’t because he was the captain and I was the captain – it could have been anyone. It’s often the best player is the one that your team goes up a little bit, the intensity goes up when the best players in the world come out to the crease,” said Paine.

During the 2018-19 series, India managed to record their first Test series win on Australian soil. Kohli-led side eventually won the series 2-1 and now they would be looking to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. “I’m looking forward to everything, to be honest, it’s a huge series. They beat us here last time obviously with a different team. I think any time you get to test yourself against the best is something that you look forward to as players and as a team, and we certainly are,” said Paine.

India and Australia are slated to square off against each other in three ODIs, three T20Is, and four Tests. Kohli will just be playing one Test against Australia, and then he will head back home after being granted paternity leave by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

WITH AGENCY INPUTS