Kohli’s sledging and rivalry with Smith the main talking points in Australian media

Virat Kohli might have contributed much to India’s victory in the second Test with his bat, but the Indian made his presence felt by going after Smith and Matt Renshaw on the field. The Indian skipper also stopped just short of calling the Australians cheaters in the post-match press conference after Steve Smith was caught consulting the dressing room for a DRS review.

Back in Australia, Kohli has become the target of some harsh remarks by former Australian cricketers and journalists. While Ian Healy recently said that he is losing his respect for the 28-year-old, Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Wu wrote, “Virat Kohli is talking a bigger game than he is playing but the Indian captain is showing he can still inspire his team through words rather than action. His heckling of Smith was relentless. From the moment the Australian captain took guard, he was under siege. Not even the drinks break provided refuge for Smith,” in his article headlined ‘Kohli talking bigger game than he’s playing – and it’s working’.

The Daily Telegraph’s article titled ‘Kohli gets personal with Smith’ reads, “The gloves came off in Bangalore on Sunday night as Virat Kohli got personal in his battle with long-term rival Steve Smith.”

John Anderson wrote in this article “From gracious winner to whingeing loser” for The Daily Telegraph that captaining Kohli means who will have to sacrifice some “diplomacy”. He wrote, “When you appoint a street fighter such as Virat Kohli as captain, you have to accept that diplomacy is sometimes going to suffer when the heat gets turned on.”

Robert Craddock, who also writes for The Daily Telegraph, took a dig at India’s wastefulness with the DRS. He wrote, “India has continued to make a hash of the DRS despite coach Anil Kumble’s pre-second Test assertion that it was not a problem his side needed to work on.”