India’s Virat Kohli has faced severe criticism over his poor form and the altercation with Sam Konstas in AUS v IND Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Former Australian cricketer Aaron Finch has now made an interesting comment on Kohli’s mental state as he finds it challenging to get going despite scoring a ton in the Perth Test.
Virat Kohli scored seven and 11 in the two innings of the Adelaide Test, three in Brisbane, and 36 and five runs in the AUS v IND Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Speaking about the former Indian captain’s form woes and his altercation with Sam Konstas, Aaron Finch suggested that the Indian batter was intentionally employing the tactic to build pressure on himself.
“Virat’s someone who’s always thrived on pressure and he’s thrived when his back is against the wall. It just feels like at this stage, he is trying to put his own back against the wall. He’s trying to be antagonistic, he’s trying to almost pick a fight because that’s when he plays when he feels like someone’s coming at him. That’s when he puts all his skills on show,” the former Australian cricketer said.
Read more: Watch: Sam Konstas’s wild celebration after Kohli’s dismissal in fourth Test
According to Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli seemed to be trying to push Australian players to come after him, so he could concentrate on silencing them in the ongoing AUS v IND Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“It just feels like he’s pushing other people to make him feel like that and we’ve not seen the best of him in this series yet. He looked beautiful in the first innings at Melbourne and looked like he wasn’t going to get out but Australia have bowled well,” Finch said.
It is worth noting here that fans and former cricketers slammed Virat Kohli after he bumped shoulders with Australian debutant Sam Konstas in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
The ICC later penalised the Indian batter for breaching level 1 of its Code of Conduct and fined him 20 percent of the match fee and awarded one demerit point.
