India captain Virat Kohli says he no longer feels the need to get involved in sledging and other kinds of confrontation and banter with the rival teams.
His comments come in the lead up to India’s four-match series against Australia in what looks to be India’s best chance of winning a Test series Down Under for the very first time.
In his previous tours to Australia, particularly in the Tests in 2014-15, Kohli had clashed with quite a few Australian players including the likes of David Warner and former wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin. It was a hotly contested four-match series, which Australia went on to win 2-0.
Courtesy Kohli, India certainly came close to winning the first Test in Adelaide, but collapsed after his dismissal. Australia won the second Test in Brisbane, while the next two in Melbourne and Sydney were drawn games.
Leading the team across all formats since early 2017, Kohli has taken his game to another level, saying he no longer feels the need to prove himself anymore.
Talking to the Sydney-based Macquarie Sports Radio, the skipper said: “You learn from every series, every tour and every game that you play.
“I think from last time round, I’ve become more assured of myself. I don’t really find the need to prove anything to anyone.
“It’s all about doing what the team wants me to do and just giving my 100 per cent on the field. It’s a gradual process, as I don’t really feel anything different when I tour countries now. It’s more a process now.
“In the early stages of my career, I used to think of these things as important milestones which are really important in one’s career. But the focus now is purely and solely on making the team win at any cost.
“So, from last time around, I think I’m more assured of myself. I don’t find the need to get involved in anything with the opposition and I think those are changes that keep happening gradually as you go forward.”
Kohli is currently one of the best batsmen in world cricket, averaging 54.57 in the longest format where he already had 24 hundreds, while scoring over 10,000 runs at a whopping average of almost 60 in ODIs.
In the shortest version too, the India captain has an enviable average of close to 50. And it wasn’t many days ago when he hit an unbeaten 61 in Sydney to help India draw the T20I series against Australia.
Talking of Australian cricket, Kohli expects the hosts to come hard at his team. Australian cricket has been undergoing a turbulent six months on the back of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier this year.
They showed a lot of determination and courage to draw the first Test of the away series against Pakistan, before being hammered in the next game. However, the coming home Tests against India will be a chance for them as well to mend things and turn it around.
And Kohli is well aware of it. “… You might not see the same kind of stuff that happened in the last series,” Kohli said. “But I think in terms of their body language and the intent they have, I’m sure they’re still going to be aggressive in their minds.
“That’s the way Australia have always played and I don’t think there’s any other way they like to play their cricket. I don’t see any incidents happening on the field, as I think it’s going to be competitive cricket.
“They’re definitely going to bring their A-game and expect us to bring ours, so we do expect stiff competition from Australia as always and we’re definitely not taking anything for granted.”
The first Test gets underway at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday.