Cricket needs characters like Virat Kohli: Allan Border

TIL Desk Sports/ Former Australia captain Allan Border defended Virat Kohli’s aggression, saying cricket needs characters like the Indian skipper who exude passion on the field. “There’s not many characters in our game at the moment. The professional era has sort of beaten that out to a certain degree,” Border said.

Kohli has received severe criticism from the likes of Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson and Sanjay Manjrekar for his aggressive celebrations in the ongoing Test series in Australia. The Indian skipper was also involved in a series of heated exchanges with his Australian counterpart Tim Paine, which prompted umpire Chris Gafaney to intervene during the second Test here.

“I haven’t seen anyone sort of carry on so much as a captain when his side takes a wicket. It’s really over the top but it’s good in a way. You can see some passion about what he’s trying to do,” Border said. Border added that perhaps Kohli’s aggression stems from the desire to cement his legacy with an away series victory.  “He’s so keen to win away from home and really deserve that number one ranking … that’s your KPIs (key performance indicators) as a captain I suppose,” he said.