https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/india-vs-australia-tests-virat-kohli-allan-border-5501752/
Cricket needs passionate characters like Virat Kohli, says Allan Border
Allan Border stated that perhaps Virat Kohli's aggression stems from the
desire to cement his legacy with an away series victory after defeats in
South Africa and England this year.
December 20, 2018 1:11:08 pm
Virat Kohli’s on-field behaviour came under light once again in the
second Test of the India-Australia series at Perth with the Indian
skipper getting into a war of words with his counterpart Tim Paine. The
scenes unfolded on the third and fourth day of the Perth Test – which
India lost by 146 runs to see the series levelled at 1-1 – inviting
criticism from the likes of Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson and Sanjay
Manjrekar. However, one Aussie great – Allan Border – has defended
Kohli’s actions, suggesting cricket needs such passionate characters.
“There’s not many characters in our game at the moment. The professional
era has sort of beaten that out to a certain degree,” Border said on Fox
Cricket’s podcast ‘The Follow-on‘.
On the fourth day of the Test, as Kohli stood in Paine’s way while
completing a run and then getting into a discussion, it needed umpire
Chris Gafaney to intervene and get both skippers to quiet down.
“I haven’t seen anyone sort of carry on so much as a captain when his
side takes a wicket. It’s really over the top but it’s good in a way.
You can see some passion about what he’s trying to do,” Border said.
Border added that perhaps Kohli’s aggression stems from the desire to
cement his legacy with an away series victory. “He’s so keen to win away
from home and really deserve that number one ranking … that’s your KPIs
(key performance indicators) as a captain I suppose,” he said.
India come into the Australia Test series having lost back-to-back away
series this year – against South Africa and England with Australia the
final challenge before the IPL and the World Cup.
“To drive the team to be number one, which he has achieved, but to win
away from home is one of those important things you notice as a captain.”
Border also opined that as the leader, Kohli feels the need to manifest
the passion and drive. “I think he’s feeling that pinch. If you look at
this Indian side he’s probably the only one that has the character to
get really animated,” he said.
“The rest of the Indian boys are very good cricketers but seem to me a
quiet bunch and maybe Kohli feels as skipper he needs to lead from the
front and really show some passion and drive. I think it just comes
naturally to him,” he added.