Josh Philippe says Virat Kohli was 'easy to approach'; wishes to play all formats for Australia

Josh Philippe has been retained by RCB for the upcoming IPL 2021.

By Ankitjit Singh - 24 Jan, 2021

Royal challengers Bangalore player Josh Philippe revealed his goals of playing all three formats for Australia and shared his experience with Indian skipper Virat Kohli during the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. 

Josh Philippe is one of the most talked-about players in the Australian domestic circuit. Currently playing for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash league Josh Philippe is the second leading run-scorer in the tournament with 421 runs, only behind Alex Hales. In two back to back seasons, he has been the backbone of the batting unit for Sydney sixers in the BBL.

Ahead of the IPL 2020, Josh Philippe received his maiden Australia limited-overs call-up for the England tour 2020. But didn’t got the opportunity to play and is yet to make his international debut. 

Josh Philippe expressed his dream of playing Test cricket for Australia and said 2020 was a fascinating year for him as he got the opportunity to play in IPL. 

“The dream is to play Test cricket. This year was a fascinating year. I had the chance to go to the IPL, and because it was postponed, I missed Shield cricket [with Western Australia] as a result,” Philippe told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Kohli will have to give up captaincy if he doesn't win T20 or ODI World Cup in India" - Monty Panesar

Philippe, 23, admitted that he still has a lot to learn in red-ball cricket and said that his goal is to play all three formats for Australia. 

“I still have a lot to learn with four-day cricket. But if you’re consistently playing and doing well you never know what happens. I’m young and hopefully, I’ve got a long career ahead of me. I want to play for Australia and potentially be good enough to play all formats. They’re my goals. Until that is completely shut down, I won’t just think about the T20 circuit.” he said. 

The wicket-keeper batman further shared his experience with Virat Kohli and said that the former was easy to approach. 

“The camera never leaves him. It’s amazing to see his intensity on the field, but then away from the field see how normal and humble he is. He was so easy to approach,” he concluded.

Josh Philippe played for Royal challengers Bangalore during the last season of the IPL, having been played only 5 matches the wicket-keeper batsman scored 78 runs with a strike rate above 100.

The former has also been retained by the franchise and is expected to open the batting for RCB in IPL 2021. 

(India today inputs) 

By Ankitjit Singh - 24 Jan, 2021

TAGS