Banters will go on but can't compromise on quality of cricket, says Kohli
Dec 16, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 16 : As the Indian team gears up to face Australia in the much-anticipated Test series, skipper Virat Kohli said that on-field banters will continue, but the quality of cricket should not be compromised at the highest level. In the 2018-19 series, both the teams engaged in banter that caught media attention.
"I think it is a combination of all those factors. I think this year has made people realise a lot of things which might not have been necessary in the past where you hold grudges or you have unnecessary tension between teams or individuals which is absolutely pointless, you still gonna be professional and make sure you are positive and aggressive in your body language and the way you go about things on the field," Kohli said in the press conference ahead of the Test series.
This time Kohli feels that on-field banters are not going to be personal because of the coronavirus pandemic and players bonding due to the Indian Premier League.
"But I don't think that things are going to be as personal as they used to be before because of the fact that we understand we are contributing to the larger cause and it is the quality of cricket that standout and obviously you gonna try to score runs. At the end of the day, unnecessary stuff is gonna be filtered out pretty much by itself.
"It could be a culmination of playing IPL together, Australia changing their approach to an extent and also as I said just the way things have panned out this year everyone is grateful for the opportunity to be back on the field," he added.
Kohli further added that 'quality of cricket' is the only thing that matters at the end of the day and one should maintain that on the ground.
"It is not like the games haven't been as intense or as competitive it's the unnecessary stuff which is been filtered out and I feel there is much more respect between the sides and you can see that on the field. I hope that cricket continues to be competitive we should not compromise on the quality of cricket and banters gonna go on here and there all the time. That's the highest level of cricket that we play in and it is gonna be very competitive," Kohli said.
"There's gonna be tension, stress, emotions and flaring every now and then but I don't foresee anything getting personal anymore and I think all of us are getting smarter in few more years into our career so we gonna make better choices but make sure that the quality of the cricket remains," the skipper added.
Prithvi Shaw and Wriddhiman Saha have been named in India's playing XI for the first Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
India's playing XI: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah.
