Aggressive play remains our motive, says Kohli

The responsibility of captaincy may have brought out the softer side of Virat Kohli as the newest India Test skipper said he agreed with David Warner that both sides should resist from giving ‘send-offs’ when a batsman gets out.

“Did he say he wants an end to that?” asked Kohli when his reaction was sought for Warner’s comments made on Sunday. “I think that’s basically unnecessary part of cricket. When you have got someone out, you don’t need to run towards him to say any sort of things. I agree on that. Collectively as a team you can celebrate and make as much noise as you can but someone approaching the batsman out of his way and then coming back to the pack, I think that really looks bad on the field,” Kohli noted.

Warner and Indian paceman Varun Aaron had a run-in in Adelaide when the Indian paceman shouted come-on after dismissing the opener. When the replays showed Aaron had overstepped, Warner kept going at the bowler uttering same words.

Kohli, however, maintained he was not going to be any different because he is the captain now and that he will continue to play with the same aggression. “I don’t think aggression means I have to go out there and talk to everyone out there,” he pointed out. “Aggression means the way I play a ball or I defend a ball. That’s the motive of the team; to play aggressively, to play positive cricket. There have been lots of talks of me going over the top or crossing the line as far as the verbal battles are concerned. The people writing and saying about it are not out there in the middle when it happens. I know what’s been said and I know the reason why things are being said back. A line doesn’t need to be crossed but we are not here to back down from any sort of confrontation or battle. You will still see positive cricket and the same aggressive intent,” Kohli remarked.

Kohli sought to justify his on-field conduct by citing no censure from the match referee. “It’s surprising that even when there are no fines from the ICC how one individual can be so wrong for standing up for his team,” Kohli asked. “If there were fines for me then you would be right to say that I was wrong but there have been no fines and the match referee knows what happened out there and the umpires know it too. It is commonsense that if you are not fined then you understand what was happening out in the middle. What I was doing was standing up for my team. I don’t worry about what people say about me, I know what I am here for and that’s what matters.”