"Virat Kohli should tone down a bit" - Michael Holding

West Indian great Michael Holding has advised Virat Kohli to 'tone down' a bit when captaining India. Holding believes that the 32-year-old often gets carried away with his on-field intensity, which keeps most of his teammates tense and 'on tenterhooks'.

Michael Holding's observation came in an interaction with The Indian Express. The former pacer also compared Virat Kohli to another West Indian legend, Viv Richards. He admitted that it's in both of their personalities to be over-expressive on the field but added that they need to learn to relax for their teams' sake.

"Virat Kohli is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s someone who will let you know exactly how he feels. I think he gets a bit carried away at times, but that is Virat Kohli, that is the man."

Holding compared Kohli's personality to that of West Indies legend Viv Richards. He said:

"He’s similar to Viv (Richards) in that regard. Viv, sometimes on the field, was over-expressive. But those are the personalities of those two gentlemen. They can tone down a little bit as well, but then, if you are a Mustang, it’s hard to tell a Mustang to trot. He’s going to gallop."

Holding advised Kohli to relax a little so as to allow his team-mates to express themselves freely on the field.

"As far as his captaincy, I’ve only seen India when they were touring England and I saw them in South Africa. The only thing I’d say about Virat is that he tone down a bit so his team can relax because a lot of them, I think, are on tenterhooks," said Michael Holding.

🤣 😍 😀 🙄 🙃 😠The many faces of Virat Kohli!Which one will we have at the end of play today? 👀#WTC21 Final | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/Y0USGOFuhg

— ICC (@ICC) June 23, 2021

Virat Kohli recently fell short of winning his first ICC trophy as captain in the World Test Championship final. He will now eye a win in the forthcoming crucial 5-Test series against England, which begins on August 4.

India v New Zealand - ICC World Test Championship Final: Reserve Day

Fitness and improved pitches behind the rise of Indian cricket: Michael Holding

Michael Holding

Michael Holding also talked about the meteoric rise of Indian cricket from being the underdog in his era to one of the leading teams today. He attributed the change to the improved athleticism of players more than the skill level.

"Well, it’s a totally different era when it comes to Indian cricket. When I played against India, probably two of the players were fit. Now everybody on the field is fit. You see how athletic they are, how dynamic they are. The skill level hasn’t really changed that much but when you have fitness, and a change of attitude along with skill level, obviously the cricket will also change," said Michael Holding.

The former pacer also added that the drastically reformed pitches have helped the team cope with the pace and bounce overseas.

"What has also helped Indian cricket is that a lot of pitches in India, for domestic cricket and cricket in general, have improved. The ball bounces a lot more and since it carries, batsmen are able to cope on overseas pitches. In my time, once India left India, that was it. The pitches that they played in India were slow and low and it became dusty."

Holding talked about his recent experience of Indian pitches during West Indies' tour of India in 2014-15.

When I did a series in India in 2014-15, when West Indies came and the tour was abandoned, each time I would do a pitch report with Sunny Gavaskar, I would joke and say, ‘Sunny, how come the pitches weren’t like this when we used to play here?’ Good pitches create good cricketers," Michael Holding concluded.

Why did the former South African pacer Makhaya Ntini not get into the team bus but run to ground from hotel? Michael Holding details the racism Ntini faced within team https://t.co/NqfTV6cg3Q

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) June 28, 2021