Ahead of the Boxing Day Test starting in Melbourne on Wednesday, Indian captain Virat Kohli laughed off suggestions that he was being cast as the ‘villain’ in the ongoing series.
Responding to a question from an Australian journalist on whether he enjoyed that role, Kohli said he has no control over what’s being said or written about him and was focussed on his game.
“Well that’s a funny question,” Kohli said. “What I do or what I think, I am never going to take a banner outside to the world and explain myself that this is who I am, you need to like me and stuff like that. Look, these are things that happen on the outside and literally I have no control over that. As I said in the press conference after the last game, its an individual choice what you want to focus on. So my, focus is on winning the Test match and doing well for the teams and that’s all it is.”
Captain Kohli scored a battling century in Perth but came under the spotlight also for his sledging and heated exchanges with Australian counterpart Tim Paine. Kohli’s antics on the field has been talked about as much as batsmanship during the current tour with a few former cricketers loving the passion he has shown, and at the same time, the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Sanjay Manjrekar not being pleased with his display of aggression.
“I honestly have no idea on any of the articles or anything that people say. Because that doesn’t concern me. It’s not something that I have written. Its not my point of view. Everyone is entitled to their point of view and that’s all. I have total respect for that and I just want to focus on good cricket and help my team win,” Kohli said.
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His animated wicket celebrations were also frowned upon, and coach Ravi Shastri had said he didn’t have a problem with his skipper.
“What’s wrong with his behaviour? As far as we are concerned, he is an absolute gentleman,” he said.
Asked whether he agreed with his coach’s assessment by the same journalist, Kohli said, “Well, he has spent enough time with me to know what kind of person I am and the people who know me you can ask them. I wouldn’t be answering this question.”