Australia v India Test summer: How Virat Kohli’s ruthless leadership will be his legacy
Never before has there been an Indian side as ruthless as the one skippered by Virat Kohli – and that will be his legacy, writes Harsha Bhogle.
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I think secretly, Australian cricket fans admire people who come back hard at them, though they might not admit it in public.
It’s why Virat Kohli shares a very strange relationship with the Australian public, which is sure to be revived this summer.
In public, I think they love to hate Virat, though there’s a softer side Australia is showing at the moment with Justin Langer last week saying he’s the best!
But because of the manner in which he plays cricket, because he’s an aggressive batsman and he takes on the attack, Virat will always be the centre of attention.
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When you come to Australia you must have that combative streak because Australia always comes hard at you from the customs officer to the groundsman to the selector to the captain.
If it’s not in your nature to be combative you can buckle under sometimes.
And Virat by his very nature likes that combative edge. He’s a little more combative than previous Indian captains. It’s not as if MS Dhoni was a little less combative, but he maybe didn’t show it in his body language – whereas Virat is happy to take it on and own it.
WHAT SETS HIM APART FROM SACHIN
It wasn’t like Virat was a prodigy like a Sachin Tendulkar was, or a Pritvhi Shaw or even a Shubman Gill. No, never. Virat’s grown in his game.
Virat was a good player but he wasn’t someone who was making doubles and triples and telling the world ‘come look at me’. He’s grown through a lot of hard work and self improvement.
The first time we heard about Virat was when he’d just started playing for Delhi and the talk was of this young kid who was coming through.
But then when India won the under-19 World Cup and we saw the fire and the aggression in him. He was an angry captain already by the time he was under-19.
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What people always said about Virat when he was coming through the ranks, through from the age of 10 was that every time you saw him you saw a better player.
You saw one fewer weakness, each time. He’s worked very, very hard to do what he has.
He’s struggled in England in 2014 – had a terrible time – and then the next time he went there he got hundreds, which is always the sign of a good player. I think it was Jimmy Anderson who said it was a player by the same name, but a different player I was bowling to.
HE PLAYS LIKE AN AUSSIE
Virat is the kind of personality who likes to get into a scrap.
They used to say this about Steve Waugh as well – when he came out to bat you never said a thing to him, because he wanted to pick an adversary from the moment he walked onto the pitch. It made him tougher, and he wanted to win that contest.
I think Virat is a bit like that. He almost likes it if you rile him up. Because then it’s a contest he wants to win. And that is why I think the Aussies say Virat is such an Aussie – because he thrives on that contest.
I listened to a recent podcast with Ricky Ponting the other day and I thought I heard a little bit of Virat in how Ponting was describing himself. To that extent, Virat is different from the others in the Indian squad.
VIRAT’S INDIAN LEGACY
He’s made India more aggressive. And perhaps his legacy will be in unearthing a generation of Indian fast bowlers.
Because the difference between Virat and say some of the earlier captains, is Virat is a big believer in his fast bowlers. Look at the improvement in Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami – all have played their best in the past three years.
Very often in India we’ve played three quicks. For the past year and a bit — whether it was against South Africa or against Bangladesh – we haven’t had those dust bowl wickets at all.
Because he likes playing with pace and he likes playing on good pitches. His biggest influence has been on the development and the use of fast bowling in India.
If you look at the pipeline in India, there are more swing and seam bowlers coming through than finger spinners coming through. There’s hardly any finger spinners now.
A CHANGED MAN
He’s a man in love. He is, very much so. You just have to go to his Instagram page and you’ll discover it. In this case, Instagram doesn’t lie.
During the IPL the cameras picked up a moment where he came to his wife during one of the breaks to ask if she’s eaten enough and whether she’s feeling well.
A lot of people in India were thinking ‘Is this what happens? You go home to be with your wife for the birth of a child?’ because players haven’t done that too often in the past, especially for a series like Australia.
Since meeting his wife, Anushka, I’ve noticed Virat has got a slightly more rounded edge now. He’s become a vegan.
He’s become a little bit more … spiritual is a very big word to use here, but I think he’s got a life outside cricket now. And I don’t know if for a long time he had that.
But he’s definitely got parts outside the game. She’s been a huge influence on him, no doubt.
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