Steve Waugh on Virat Kohli: “He’ll be putting a bit of pressure on himself”

Dixit Bhargav | 05/12/2018
Steve Waugh on Virat Kohli

Steve Waugh on Virat Kohli: Former Australia captain believes the India captain will bat in this series to level things up.

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh believes that India captain Virat Kohli will be looking to level things up in the imminent Test series against Australia. Waugh’s mention dates back to Australia’s tour of India last year when Kohli went through a rare patch.

In the three Test matches which Kohli played in that series, he scored 46 runs at an average of 9.20 and a strike rate of 44.23. On the other hand, Kohli’s counterpart Steven Smith had ended the series as its highest run-scorer, scoring 499 runs in four matches at an average of 71.28 and a strike rate of 49.21.

Waugh believes that Smith outnumbering Kohli in that series is one of the reasons why Kohli is showing signs of dominating the Australian bowling line-up. However, it is one aspect which Waugh felt will add unnecessary pressure on the Indian captain.

ALSO READ: Twitter admires King Kohli post his outstanding batting stint in the nets.

“He’ll be putting a bit of pressure on himself, this [a series win in Australia] will be the feather in the cap if he can pull this off,” Waugh was quoted as saying to cricket.com.au.

“The last series in India where Steve Smith totally dominated him … Smith had this incredible series and scored about 500 [499] runs, and Virat hardly scored a run. So, that would have been deflating for him, and he’ll look to square the ledger when he comes back to Australia,” Waugh said.

Before signing off, Waugh threw accolades on Kohli, saying that the way Indian players follow their captain in a big positive for both Kohli and the team.

“He leads the way, and the other players follow him. They want to battle for him, they want to play for him as a captain. That’s a big thing to have as a captain – the guys are playing for you, and playing for the country. He’s a really strong leader and he’ll be tough to hold back in this series,” Waugh concluded.

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Kohli below:

 

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
India tour of Australia 2018-19 Steve Waugh Virat Kohli

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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