Former Australian captain Michael Clarke, who is a big admirer of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, feels that the latter has an Australian spirit. Virat Kohli-led team India recently humiliated Sri Lanka in their own backyard with a 3-0 series win, which was the first time an Indian team whitewashed another overseas. Team India will now look to expand their winning streak when they take on Sri Lanka in a 5-match One Day International series. Virat Kohli, who got embroiled in many controversies when Australia toured India last year, even to the point that the Australian media equated him to the current President of the United States and touted him as Donald Trump of cricket.
While promoting Tourism Australia, Clarke spoke highly about the Indian captain, refuting the claims that he is highly unpopular in the smallest continent.
“I disagree that Virat doesn’t have too many fans in Australia. I think Virat has a lot of Australian spirit in him. To be honest, he plays the game really tough and is really competitive on the field, but he is a nice guy off the field. So when people get to know Virat, they realize that what they see on the field is just his competitive spirit. I can’t think of any Australian cricketer who wasn’t like that every time we walked out on the field. I certainly think there is respect for Virat in Australia” said Clarke.
“You probably are not going to read the positive stuff (about Virat) in the Australian media though. They all want to write a negative story. But I have a great relationship with him and I think he is respectful,” he added.
Virat Kohli is known for being aggressive on the field, but his forwardness and strategies have resulted in some fine performances. His leadership has had a significant impact on the team, which draws a lot of confidence from his performances, auguring well for the future of Indian cricket.
Also, recently Michael Hussey too said that Virat Kohli’s style of playing and captaining reminded him of Ricky Ponting.
India will also be taking on Australia in 5 ODIs which will take place in India beginning in October.
