Pat Cummins and his side have been warned by former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson not to get into heated on-field arguments with Virat Kohli during the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts on November 22. A lot has been said about Kohli's recent slump in form and his desire to succeed in Australia, which is referred to as his "home away from home." Shane Watson, though, implied that if the Australians did not bother him, Kohli would not be as dangerous.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will include five Test matches for the first time since 1991–1992, is the main focus. Australia and India both started training at Perth Stadium on Tuesday, and Virat Kohli has been a main focus, as was to be expected. A consortium of Australian newspapers made history by publishing a special issue with Kohli on the cover, showcasing the former India captain's enormous popularity. Kohli is the face of the visiting squad despite not being India's captain anymore thanks to advertising activities in Australia.
"The one thing that I know of Virat is... because the fire burns so brightly and deep inside him, the intensity he brings to every ball that he is engaged in a game has been superhuman," Watson said in the Willow Talk Podcast.
"But, there have been in recent times where moments in this career that fire has started to go out because it is just so hard to maintain that intensity in every moment he is involved in a game. And, that is where Australia have to leave him alone and hope he doesn't bring the intensity -- nine out of 10 intensity -- to every ball,." he added.
Virat Kohli was involved in a heated rivalry with Mitchell Johnson during India's tour of Australia in 2014-15 and that brought a different beast from the batter. During the 2014–15 tour, Kohli had his best-ever series performance against Australia, scoring 692 runs from four games at an average of 86.50 with four hundreds and one fifty.
India suffered a humiliating 0-3 home series loss to New Zealand earlier this month and Kohli's dismal form was one of the big reasons for it as he could only score only 93 runs in three Test matches. Kohli has only managed two hundreds in the last five years of Test cricket, despite dominating in the T20 World Cup final and having a successful Indian Premier League season.
However, Kohli will draw some confidence from his impressive record in Australia, where he has scored 1,353 runs at an average of 54, including six hundreds, in 13 games. He also has happy memories of the Optus Stadium, where he made a century during India's final game there in 2018.
"When he has succeeded in Australia, it’s because he has been completely engaged with everything happening on the field. Every ball, every moment — he is fiercely intense, and that focus blocks out all distractions. That’s when he’s at his absolute best," Watson noted.
"If there’s noise around him and that intensity isn’t there, you’ll see a lesser version of Virat. From an Australian perspective, let’s hope we get that version of him," he added.
During training sessions at the storied WACA in Perth last week, Virat Kohli seemed focused and upbeat. He brought that enthusiasm into Tuesday's first training session for India at the Optus Stadium. India will mostly depend on Kohli to lead the scoring in the opening Test in Perth because Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are both out.
