As India cricket team captain Virat Kohli will go on paternity leave after the first Day-Night Test in Australia, former Australian coach John Buchanan believes that India will miss the right-hander’s presence both on and off the field during the upcoming four-match Test series next month.
India has fond memories from their last tour of Australia as they clinched the historic 2-1 series and won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19 on Australian soil. During the last triumphant tour, Cheteshwar Pujara was the star of the series with 521 runs in four Tests, but Kohli’s contributions were equally significant both as captain and batsman (282 runs).
However, this time, the dashing cricketer will return back to India to be his pregnant wife Anushka as he due for January and the Indian skipper will leave the tour after the first Test at Adelaide starting on 17 December and Buchanan said his absence will definitely be an advantage for the hosts.
Kohli has done an incredibly good job as the India captain of the team and Buchanan pointed out that the 32-year-old is an instrumental figure and his absence will have an impact on India’s performance in the upcoming World Test Championship games in Australia.
Buchanan told Times of India, “It will definitely be an advantage for Australia because Kohli was one of the dominant players in the last Test series the two teams played. Of course, Cheteshwar Pujara was the star of the series but Kohli’s presence in the middle was a huge factor in India winning that series. His presence on the field and in the dressing room will be missed by India.”
He added, “He (Kohli) has done an incredibly good job - irrespective of whether he is scoring runs or not. If we go back to 2019, (Cheteshwar) Pujara was the star of the series and Kohli made some contributions, so did (Ajinkya) Rahane. But Kohli’s real contribution is his leadership and captaincy and the way he instills greatness - not only to win games but also in finding a way to beat teams,”
While mentioning that Kohli is now a mature captain, the former Australian coach opined that India will miss the captain’s maturity in terms of keeping the team together in difficult times during the tough Test series.
Australia’s World Cup-winning coach further noted, “Kohli has demonstrated in the last few years that he is a mature leader who keeps this Indian team together. Having said that, I am not for a moment suggesting that the ones who would lead in Kohli’s absence can’t do that.”
Buchanan signed off, “When you look at the Australian batting line-up last time to what it will be now - there is a big change. Warner and Smith bring in a lot of experience to this line-up. Marnus Labuschagne has been in great nick and so has the other batsmen, but Warner and Smith give the side a potent look.”
