I'm proud of how Virat Kohli has given Aussies hell
I have been following the India-Australia Test series the way many do nowadays. An open tab automatically refreshes the score. Occasionally, I watch a video that appears on my Facebook newsfeed.
It’s sad. The BCCI is trying its best to revive Test cricket by choosing newer and smaller venues where they hope the purist fans of the game will arrive in hordes to watch Cheteshwar Pujara surpass Rahul Dravid by facing more than 500 balls in one innings, which in itself is equivalent to more than two T20 matches.
No doubt Pujara’s innings was great, but some writing habits do die hard. Pujara “slams” a double century almost sounds like inappropriate behaviour towards the English language and an insult to Virendra Sehwag. Still, I do not get BCCI’s strategy of trying to revive Test cricket in Dharamsala and Ranchi. Next venue could be Jim Corbett Park hoping some deer, jumbos and tigers will be interested in ball hitting bat and an occasional single.
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| It is good to know that our boys are giving the Aussies an earful, with Virat Kohli the leader of the sledging pack. |
Indians do not watch Test cricket anymore as they do not have so much time, period. Moreover, there are the shorter formats of the game, packaged and pulsating. Competition and choice is always healthy.
Still, it is good to know that our boys are giving the Aussies an earful, with Virat Kohli the leader of the sledging pack. Kohli must be doing a tremendous job of getting under the skin of the visitors as the biased Aussie media has compared him to Donald Trump. I follow Virat on Instagram. He is a nice guy unless he is face-to-face with an Aussie player or Gautam Gambhir on the field.
On Valentine’s Day, he put up a very cute picture of Anushka Sharma, but for some reason deleted it shortly. On Women’s Day, he put up photos of his mom and Anushka, referring them as the two most important women in his life. Unlike cricket, Virat, naturally, still needs to learn a bit more about handling the women in his personal space. It is not very wise to call your mom and wife/girlfriend the most important people in the same post publicly. You convey the message separately and surreptitiously, without the other in the picture.
The great Amitabh Bachchan, always measured and dignified, has Tweeted that comparing Virat to Trump is a compliment, which is not the way the Aussie media obviously sees it. For them, Trump is equivalent to some of Virat’s favourite vocabulary when he is in full (verbal) flow.
But, I do hope that Virat is able to shut the Aussies up for good by getting back to form in Dharamsala and winning the hard-fought series for India. And I will switch on the TV to watch him bat. I do that every time, whether it is Test cricket, one-day or a T20 match. His skills are surreal.