"I enjoy Kohli’s aggression; we need a captain like him," says Madan Lal

Member of BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC) and former India cricketer, Madan Lal, defended Virat Kohli’s on-field demeanour. The Indian captain has had several critics of his antics on the field in recent times.

During India’s recent tour of New Zealand, Kohli’s aggressive behaviour came under scrutiny when he gave aggressive send-offs to opposite number, Kane Williamson. He was also seen swearing at the crowd at Hagley Oval during the second test.

Madan Lal believes that the Indian captain needs to show a certain level of aggression on the field. "I don't understand why people in India are asking him to mellow down,” he said.

“First, everyone wanted a very aggressive captain and now you want Kohli to stop his aggressive streak. I love the way he is on the field. Earlier, people used to say that Indians are not aggressive; now that we’ve become aggressive people question that and ask why we are so aggressive. I enjoy Kohli’s aggression; we need a captain like him,” the former cricketer added.

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Along with the criticism of his on-field behaviour, Kohli has also experienced a dip in form during the recently concluded tour. The 31-year-old scored a mere 38 runs in four innings during the two-test series in New Zealand.

In the 7 matches (3 ODIs and 4 T20Is) that preceded the test series, Kohli managed to breach the 50-run mark only once. The stylish right-hander has not endured such a poor run of form since India’s tour of England in 2014 where he scored 134 runs in 10 innings at an average of 13.4.

Madan Lal believes this kind of a loss of form can happen to anybody.

“He was out of form. You can say it was a loss of confidence. That (series against New Zealand) doesn’t take anything away from him. He is still the world’s best player. At times, technical flaws come in and you then try harder and harder but still you don’t come out of it. It happens to the best of players,” he was quoted as saying.

When normal services resume and the world goes back to playing cricket again, it will be interesting to see how Kohli responds to his detractors. With the IPL and then the T20 World Cup happening later this year, the onus will be on the RCB and India captain to perform in order for his teams to stand a chance of winning.