Virat Kohli: Giving It As Good As He Gets?

Think Virat Kohli and you will inevitably think of two things- god-given natural batting talent and an extremely aggressive mindset that doesn't know how to back down. Fighting fire with fire is something that Kohli does well and the Indian vice-captain seems to be enjoying his run-ins with the masters of sledging, the Aussies, as was evident from his press conference on Sunday. But whilst there may not be enough reasons to criticize his on-field aggression, his off the field outburst hasn't gone down too well with Sunil Gavaskar. "I am not too sure it was the wisest thing to do. Everybody has to look at whether it is going to affect the team. They had a go at Johnson and look what happened in Adelaide. You also have to look at whether it would be counter-productive and we have to wait and see whether it would be counter-productive in Melbourne too", Gavaskar told NDTV.

 

But former Australian cricketer Dean Jones has a contrary opinion. Speaking to NDTV he said "Virat is almost more Australian than Indian. I love the way he is. He likes to get in the opposition's face, he does play like that and I have got no problem with that. That is the new India now. In the past, they might have sit back and said we will do whatever you want but I love the way he plays."

Dean Jones may just be the lone Australian enjoying Kohli's demeanor both on and off the field. After all, his outburst in the presser has come in for a lot of criticism from the Australian media and fans alike. Not surprising, considering some of Virat's quote from the press conference read like this - 'Australian's hate me so I don't mind having a chat', 'I like playing against the Aussies since they find it hard to be calm', 'I don't respect all the Aussie players'.

And in doing all of this, did Kohli also commit the cardinal sin of taking what happened on the field, outside the field? Something that's contrary to the spirit of the game, irrespective of whether you are an Indian or an Aussie. Dean Jones doesn't think so. "He is still a young kid and he is still trying to learn the ropes and the same thing could be said about Steve Smith and some of his comments in the previous press conferences. If we keep doing press conferences, then all of sudden someone will speak the truth and that is what Virat Kohli has done."

Brash, aggressive, cocky have been some of the words used to describe Virat's aggression in the series. But maybe in all of this we've all ignored the fact that the batsman could be hurt as well after all the sledging he received at the hands of the Aussies. He did say in his media briefing that some Aussies didn't respect him. He also said they were calling him a brat. So, maybe it wasn't any sort of arrogance, but hurt within that forced him to say the things he did on Sunday.

A day after Kohli's comments here's how David Warner responded: "If Virat Kohli wants to play and talk aggressive, let him. We will just concentrate on our game." A far cry from the usually combative Australians, begging the question - have the roles been reversed? Has the hunter become the hunted?

A poll on this website asked its readers this question - Virat Kohli's outburst against the Aussies in the press conference, did you a) Like it b) Despise it or c) Doesn't matter. On last count, over 50 percent of the respondents voted for A. So, the Aussies may not respect Kohli enough, the Indian fan is in agreement with his fiery brand of cricket.