What’s the story?
Former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist has thrown his weight behind under-fire Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
The Indian captain who is in the midst of an extended run of lean scores with the bat has been in the eye of the storm right through this series, but the former Australian believes that Kohli has the capability to mute all his doubters and that his due for a big score in the fourth Test match at Dharamsala.
Gilchrist also issued a clarion call to both the teams to move on from the DRS fiasco and not to drag it any further as it would only get murkier as the day proceeds and could well snowball into something similar to the infamous ‘ Monkeygate’ scandal.
“I’m fearful Virat Kohli is due for a lot of runs (in Dharamsala),” he said.”It has been an exceptional series. (But) both the teams may sit back in the end and think they may have said some things differently. But we can all move on and I’m glad that it has not escalated to the really nasty scenario in 2008 that dragged on and on,” he said.
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The Details:
The former wicket-keeper who redefined the role of wicket-keepers was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Indian sandalwood company’s new name ‘Quintis’.
He also believed that the controversy is bound to hit any Indian-Australian series as both nations are extremely passionate and that there is a sense of intense rivalry.
Kohli has been involved in a lot of controversies and the Australian media has made it a mission to lambast him and paint the Indian skipper as a villain.
Gilchrist, however, does not quite nod along and believes that Kohli is a leader who leads by example and the team responds to their skipper which is a great sign for any team.
He also responded to the parallels drawn between this series and the famous 2001 series and said that the current Australian team has punched way above their weight and have surprised many people by their performances.
In case you didn’t know...
The ongoing series between India and Australia has to be one of the nastiest series in the recent past owing to the umpteen number of comments flowing in and around from both sets of teams.
Apart from this fact, Virat Kohli is not quite walking the talk as he has managed to make only 46 runs in 5 innings so far and hence has come under intense scrutiny.
The Australian media is leaving no stone unturned to up the ante on the Indian captain and have even compared him with Donal Trump.
What's next?
After all comments and plenty of mental games, the final game in Dharamsala will once again be played under intense scrutiny and with the series on line could well test the tempers of both the teams.
Virat Kohli would know it better than most that he has to score runs to quash all the theories of all his detractors.
Author's Take
Adam Gilchrist has hit the nail on the head when he says that there is bound to be rivalry in any Indian-Australian series. However, there is a common consensus that the ongoing series has long crossed the line of sledging and mental games and owing to the involvement of media of both countries the comments have become more personal.
The time is ripe for both captains to take control of the events and allow the game to take centre stage.
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