Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson wants his team to not provoke Virat Kohli in the upcoming five-match Border-Gavaskar series as his intensity brings out ‘his absolute best.’
Kohli, who is on his fifth tour to Australia, has not been at his best in Test cricket in 2024. Kohli has made only 250 runs in 12 innings this year at an average of 22.72. However, he generally churns out the best of him against Australia, a team against which he has made 2042 runs in 25 Tests.
Former all-rounder Watson has advised the Aussies to not fall into confrontation with Kohli in the upcoming series. “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. 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,” Watson was quoted as saying on the Willow Talk podcast.
Kohli has made 1352 runs in Australia since his first tour in 2011. Watson is aware of what Kohli can do when he is confronted, stating that when he brings the intensity out, he is at his best.
“We have seen that when he has had success in Australia, he is up and above for everything in the middle. Every ball he is up for every single moment. You can see the fierce intensity that he brings, and if he gets that, then it shuts everything else out. That is when he is at his absolute best.
“If there is stuff happening around and that intensity is not there, that is when you will see the not-so-best version of Virat. So from an Australian perspective, let’s hope we get to see that version of him,” Watson said.
Watson also opened Steve Smith’s decision to open the innings after the retirement of David Warner. While Smith is now back to his No.4 spot, his opening experiment backfired. “Steve wanted to open. He was super keen to take up a new challenge. But, one thing with that opportunity he had was he wasn’t actually batting at his best at that time,” Watson noted.
“So, he got an opportunity to open, and Steve Smith at his very best would have made the most out of it because he just loves scoring runs, whether it is opening or at No.4. You could see it a few times he got out when he was opening – his game and his technique was a little bit off,” he said.
