Virat Kohli is no stranger to wearing his heart on his sleeve especially on the cricket field. Kohli’s passion and aggression is second to none and he’s known to give befitting replies to the opposition. The Indian captain’s heated nature came under the scanner once again following a spectacular victory in the second Test at Lord’s.
After Jasprit Bumrah and Jimmy Anderson got involved in a heated battle, Kohli got all fired-up and charged his teammates as well. He wasn’t one to back down or to shy away from giving it back to the England players, especially Anderson.
Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Farokh Engineer hailed Kohli’s nature of giving it back to the opposition and talked about his spirited nature. However, he urged the Indian captain to exercise caution when involved in verbal battles.
“I admire Virat for that. He has been an aggressive captain. It’s good. Of course, it has to be within limits. Otherwise, the umpire or the match referee can intervene,” Engineer said.
“Maybe sometimes, yes (should he tone down his aggression?). He gets a bit too carried away, at times. But I like his aggression. He is a very good captain. I am all for it. He is I think one of the finest batsmen in the world.
“Also, they do sledging, so that your batsman lose confidence. But Bumrah and Shami were khadoos (stubborn), they replied in their own way. They couldn’t bat very well but they knew how to survive. By surviving, they got a lot of runs and those runs were very important in enabling Virat to declare the innings. That was humiliating for England,” he added.
Farokh Engineer also added that he was among the first Indian cricketers to reply back to the opposition during sledging battles. He had represented India in 46 Tests and 5 ODIs and recalled his sledging days.
“They used to call us ‘bloody Indians’. They ridiculed our accent but I answered them back, I gave it back to them on the pitch by scoring runs and wicketkeeping and all that. And by gaining respect.
“And they began to realise that Indians are not stupid. They understood that Indians are sturdy and in no way inferior. I tried to tell them that I am not equal to you but we Indians are better than you. That’s the image I portrayed to them,” said Engineer.
