Adelaide: A pandemic-struck 2020 has taught people different things. For India captain Virat Kohli, it has made him realise how ‘pointless’ sledging is. Virat Kohli promised that ‘unnecessary stuff will be filtered out’ during the upcoming Test series against Australia. His Australian counterpart Tim Paine, however, is ready to push the envelope if the game situation demands that.
“I think this year (because of pandemic) also has made people realise a lot of things which might not have been necessary. In the past people held grudges, there were unnecessary tensions between teams or individuals. It is absolutely pointless,” Kohli said on the eve of the opening Test, a day/night affair.
Paine, on his part, agreed that there isn’t a need to get aggressive. However, he and his men won’t take a ‘backward step’ if need arises.
“Yeah, look, in terms of what goes on in the field. We’ll have to wait and see,” Paine said during his media interaction.
“You certainly don’t go into it planning to have run-ins or be overly aggressive or anything of that. We just sort of go out, try and execute our plans, first with our skill, with bat and ball. But on field, things do heat up at times. And should that happen, there’s no doubt that this team won’t be taking a backward step,” said Paine.
The Indian captain, however, feels that there is no need to get personal even if one were to get aggressive. “You still are going to be professional. You just make sure that you are positive and aggressive in your body language,” Kohli pointed out.
“But I don’t think that things are going to be as personal as they used to be before. We all understand that we are contributing to a larger cause and it’s the quality, if cricket that has to stand out,” Kohli added.
But good on-field behaviour is a two-way street. Australia’s controlled aggression after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and relations developed due to IPL, has contributed largely to this aspect. “At the end of the day the unnecessary stuff, it’s going to get filtered out pretty much by itself,” Kohli stated.
“Tension, stress and emotions are all part of high-intensity sport. It will be there but as one add years to life, they tend to realise what are the things that need to be curbed. I hope cricket continues to be competitive and we should not compromise on the quality of cricket. If there is some banter then let it be,” Kohli signed off.