I certainly didn't mean to say Virat Kohli is not good, clarifies Aussie pacer Pat Cummins

I certainly didn't mean to say Virat Kohli is not good, clarifies Aussie pacer Pat Cummins

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Pat Cummins, who had claimed that Virat Kohli would not get a hundred in Australia, has clarified a recent comment saying that he never meant to say that the Indian batsman was not good enough to score a century. Cummins had also added that the Indians would definitely lose in the tour Down Under.

The Indian team led by captain Virat Kohli suffered a narrow defeat in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against England as they lost the final by eight wickets. This was Kohli’s first ODI series loss as captain of the Indian team, but despite a below-par performance as a team, the Indian skipper enjoyed a decent outing in England where he scored 75, 45 and 71 in the three ODI games. On the other side of the world, Australian pacer, Pat Cummins, had made headline for different reasons when he claimed, "My brave, bold prediction; I'd say I think Virat Kohli is not going to get a hundred and we're going to knock them off over here," when questioned by host Bruce McAvaney. 

However, the Aussie came under some serious fire online and has now come out to clarify his comments in a recent interview with cricket.com.au as he claimed that he meant the exact opposite of what the media perceived from his comment.

"I was surprised by the traction the comments I made about Virat got. I was almost trying to do the opposite to the way they were perceived. I was trying to pay him a huge compliment and say that my big wish list for the summer was he doesn't score a hundred.

"He's obviously so important to the team and is such a gun batsman, so him not scoring runs would go a long way to helping us win. But I certainly didn't mean to say he's no good because I couldn't hold him in higher regard.

"Bruce McAvaney just asked me what my big prediction was that I'd like to see for the summer. And I just basically said 'I'd love to see Virat Kohli not make a hundred because he's a really good player'," Cummins told cricket.com.au.

Team India are scheduled to travel to Australia in November where they will play three T20I’s, Three ODI’s and four Test matches over the course of three months. Cummins also added that he was left surprised after the buzz surrounding his comments was blown out of proportion by the media while he also compared Kohli to former captain, Steve Smith.

"Obviously you always get a lot of Virat Kohli and Indian cricket team fans on Twitter having their say, but it's all good. Virat's a really passionate player and I'm sure he doesn't need any extra motivation to go out there and put everything into what he does.

"I think we'll leave that be ... I don't think we'll be calling out anyone this summer. We'll just hopefully take plenty of wickets and the other team will hopefully not score many runs.

"He's similar to Steve Smith for us, he really gets himself into the contest and tries to find a way to fire up the bowlers. They seem to use that as a way to get the best out of themselves and I think that feeds off into the other players in the team as well," Cummins added.

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