Australian opener David Warner has said there are a few similarities between him and Indian captain Virat Kohli in the way they approach games.
“I can’t speak for Virat, obviously, but it’s almost like we got this thing in us when we go (out to the middle) we need to prove people wrong, prove someone wrong,” Warner told Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz in Conversation.
“If you’re in that contest, and if I’m going at him for example, you’re thinking, ‘Alright, I’m going to score more runs than him, I’m going to take a quick single on him’. You are trying to better that person in that game. That’s where the passion comes from,” he added.
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Warner believes it’s winning these smaller battles that are important if the team has to do well in the game.
“Obviously you want to win the game but you almost break it down to: If I can score more runs than Virat, or if Pujara scores more runs than Steve Smith, you have these little contests and that’s how you try to narrow the game in the sense that if we do these little things, we can be ahead of the game or we can be behind the game,” he said.
“The passion is driven by... I know my sense - one, the will to win and two, wanting to do better than that person in the opposition,” said Warner.
On the constant comparison between Kohli and his teammate Steve Smith, Warner felt the two have a very different mindset when at the crease.
“When it comes to cricket, they both have got the mental strength, the mental capacity to score runs. They both love spending time in the middle. Virat’s passion and drive to score runs is different to what Steve’s would be,” said Warner.
“Steve is going out there for a hit in the middle, that’s how he sees things. He’s hitting them out in the middle, he’s having fun, he’s enjoying himself, just does not want to get out. Virat obviously doesn’t want to get out but he knows if he spends a certain amount of time out there he’s going to score plenty of runs at a rapid rate. He’s going to get on top of you,” he added.
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Warner felt the performances of those two batsmen have an effect on the other members of the team and also the opposition.
“They stabilise, they boost morale - if they score runs, everyone else’s morale is up. If they are out cheaply you almost sense that on the field that everyone is... (down on morale and thinking) now we all have to step up. It’s a very bizarre situation,” Warner said.