Australia legendary speedster Brett Lee lavished praise on former India captain Virat Kohli ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 which is scheduled to start from November 22 in Perth. The 36-year-old batter failed to perform during India's last Test outing against New Zealand. He just scored 90 runs in three Test match series.
The star batter is centre of discussions citing his form in the longest format of the game. He just scored 250 runs in Tests this year. However, Brett Lee backed the India batting great ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
“He’s got an Australian mentality, a never-say-die attitude. He doesn’t mind getting into a scrap. He doesn’t mind having a crack. There has been a lot of conjecture around his form recently, but I’m not worried about that. I know with Kohli, he’s got the experience underneath his belt,” Lee told FoxCricket.
“He may have only got 90 runs in the three-test series against the Kiwis, but who cares? When he comes out here, he has a great record in Australia,” Lee added.
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Brett Lee also said that the star batter will be eager to perform against Australia. Lee likened the challenge of facing Kohli to his own experiences of bowling to Sachin Tendulkar in his playing days, highlighting the anticipation and intensity such matchups bring.
"There has been a lot of speculation and conjecture around Kohli's form, and I can promise you that when he gets out here, he will be raring to go, because he is a superstar," Lee said.
"It is an old cliche where you don't want to try to play against the name. You try to treat him, with all due respect, as (another) batsman. And it was the same when I was bowling against Sachin Tendulkar. You can get overawed by the stature of the guy and the history and what he has achieved, but the thing with Kohli is that he loves to get into a scrap,” he concluded.
Team India will feature in the first Test match without Rohit Sharma and in his absence Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side. Apart from Rohit, Shubman Gill will also miss the first Test as the young batter fractured his thumb during India's match simulation in Perth.
India Squad for Perth Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Abhimanyu Easwaran
