Allan Border hailed the Indian captain before the start of the series in Australia.
Speaking during a virtual media interaction from Queensland on Thursday (November 19), Border, who led the Australian team to the 1987 World Cup triumph, said as per Times of India, "As a captain, I would love to be in a team with Virat."
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Keeping in mind Kohli's greatness with the bat, Border even joked that he is more than welcome to play for Australia if he wants.
"We were thinking he might think about having his newborn baby here because we can claim his offspring as Australian," said the 65-year-old on Kohli, who'll return home post the first Test in Adelaide on paternity leave.
Border, whose last name adorns the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, thinks in Kohli's absence, the home team will definitely have an upper hand, given also the attack at their disposal to target a Kohli-less Indian batting unit in the last three Tests.
"Very confident of Australia's chances, especially when they are playing in Australia. The one thing that is in Australia's favour is Virat Kohli playing only the first Test. I think that is a big OUT for India. He is irreplaceable at the moment as a batsman and a leader. Should be 2-1 to Australia," he said.
More on the Kohli factor in deciding who holds the silverware at the end, Border said, "He is an antagonist and plays aggressively. Look, I love the way he plays his game; he wears his heart on his sleeve. I like his aggression and passion for the game. India as a team will miss that."
"He is a special player, has serious talent and is part of this new India — that's the way I look at it. The way India play the modern game, they have a very positive mindset, and Virat has led the way very well in those areas. I am a big fan."
For Border, what really stands-out about Kohli and separates him from the rest, is his ability to seamlessly transition from one format to the other and excel everywhere.
"I like the way he can change his game between different formats. I think, if you go back in time when I was playing against someone like Sunil Gavaskar, we just had to bring only one type of game to the table," Border said.
"If you look at Virat, he has done equally well in T20s, ODIs and Tests. There are a few of those who do it well around the world — Steve Smith, David Warner and AB de Villiers ... That's why I rate Virat so highly, because it's not easy to chop and change your game plan ... So, for me, he is right up there in the top echelon of Indian cricketers."
But Border knows the Australians will do well to take a cue from the last time they hosted India and not focus their energies entirely on Kohli.
Cheteshwar Pujara is one batsman who troubled them the most, even more than Kohli, as he bored them into submission over the course of four Tests with 521 runs, including three superlative hundreds, to help India come out victorious for the very first time down under. Yet, given the extended break from cricket, repeating that legendary run won't be easy at all for Pujara.
"Someone like Pujara loves batting so much, I would imagine he would be going crazy without it. What he's effectively going to do is go from a nets session into facing Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins with the new ball. That's going to be hard work," Border said.