While India registered a historic win over England in the second Test match at Lord’s, there were a lot of verbal volleys exchanged between the cricketers from both sides. One of the famous verbal warfare was seen between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and England pacer James Anderson.
The former England skipper Nasser Hussain in his recent interaction, addressed the Kohli-Anderson banter said that he believes India head coach Ravi Shastri would never stop Kohli from having a go at the opposition’s best cricketer like Anderson of England.
“Ravi Shastri, as a coach, will just let Kohli go. He won't mind seeing him exchanging words with Anderson or signaling from the balcony to try to get the players off for bad light. It is the captain who is very much in charge,” Hussain told the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
“What Kohli in particular represents is modern-day India, the one that won't be pushed around. Even though umpires might like to remind him occasionally that he doesn't run the game,” he added.
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The Englishman then lauded Virat Kohli’s deputy Ajinkya Rahane and India’s white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma for their continuous support for Kohli and his aggressive style of playing cricket.
“More significant, perhaps, are the senior players Kohli has beside him. Rohit Sharma was right there when he was complaining about the light, and both he and Rahane are integral to the tactics of India. Rohit might come across as a calm, slow heartbeat sort of guy but he is very driven to succeed too,” the 53-year-old said.
“Captains can't tick every box and Kohli can follow the ball a bit in the field. Sometimes he will do something and you will think, "What is he doing that for?" That's when he will look to his lieutenants for assistance,” he concluded.
Thus, with a fantastic win at the Home of Cricket, Lord’s, India went 1-0 up in this five-match Test series with the third match slated to be played at Headingley in Leeds from 25 August.
(With Daily Mail Inputs)
