India went down in the second Test to Australia by 146 runs, but at no point in the match did captain Virat Kohli hold back on his aggressive demeanour. While this attitude drew the ire of several former cricketers and commentators, Windies legend Viv Richards has said that he did not have problems with the attitude of the Indian skipper.
"When you say the wrong things, that's not good. There are times when you say things to upset the opposition, which is part of sport. But when you start getting personal, it's never good," Viv Richards told Cricbuzz.
Speaking about his own career, Viv said that he always loved confrontation and by the look of things, he believes even Kohli likes to get into a confrontation.
"You cannot turn the cheek every time. I'm not the guy who turned my cheek. I'm going to stand up and fight. And Virat is doing that. The Indian team today, they fear no one. In those days, those guys were a little timid. Things have changed now," Viv added.
The match was played in flayed tempers
Right throughout the Perth Test match, captain Kohli was involved in a spate of volleys with Australian players including captain Tim Paine. The Australians, who have spoken a lot about elite honesty, did refrain from hitting back either.
During India's second innings in Perth, Paine was caught on the stump mic making a cheeky comment, "I know he's your captain but you can't seriously like him as a bloke."
The series is now perfectly set up as the teams travel to Melbourne for the Boxing day Test match beginning on December 26. Kohli, in the post-match presser, defended his side and said that the management believed the pitch at Perth convinced them to go in with four seamers.
"We as a team didn't want to think that we definitely wanted to consider a spinning option on this pitch, especially having had a look at the pitch on day one and how we thought it would play on the first three days," Kohli said.
