Jacques Kallis suggests Virat Kohli “to tone down” his aggressive attitude “a bit”

He plays his cricket hard but fair. However, with the passion embroiling in his body all the time, Kohli celebrates hard and over the top. While that is absolutely fine as a captain, his aggression may affect his decision-making skills at crucial junctures of the game. Kohli has already gone through a tough phase in the first part of the ongoing South Africa tour, when he had to face severe backlash for his team being beaten comprehensively in the Test series, which led to Kallis to suggest his former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate to ‘tone down a bit’ when it comes to leadership.

“He has been aggressive and I think it works for his game. But it may be an area he needs to look at… the way it works for him he has got to see if it works for his team. It might be an area to tone it down a little bit. It certainly brings out the best in him and I think he should not change too much for him. He bats well when he is aggressive within himself,” Kallis told Hindustan Times.  

“As a leader sometimes you cannot always be as aggressive as he is, that is an area he will work on, he is still young in his captaincy. I am sure he will chill out a little more as he gets a little bit older. But he is obviously very passionate and that is nice to see.”

For the longest time, India have been known for his supreme home record as opposed to their lacklustre away form. However, the emerging crop of fast bowlers had really given them a hope this time, of registering their first-ever Test series win on the South African soil. And though the bowlers did brilliantly on their part, poor batting meant India had to be content with a 2-1 scoreline. While admitting that the last month’s Test series was one of the most intense bilateral series in recent times, Kallis said the team should work hard to improve their away record.

“One area India probably try and want to improve their record on, is their away record especially on wickets that carry a little more than they are used to. But it seems they are making their strides and getting better at it. I am sure they would have learnt a lot playing in South Africa,” the all-rounder said.

“They hit good areas (in Johannesburg Test), that is what you do in foreign conditions. You obviously learn from previous tours and it looks like they have put South Africa under pressure.”

South Africa's battle with spin has been the main narrative of the ODI series and never in the history has any spinner dominated them like this on their home soil. The duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav shared 30 spoils among each other in five matches to help India secure their first series win in South Africa in five bilateral series they have played so far and that prompted Kallis to state that the next World Cup will be dominated by spinners completely.

“Having a leg-spinner or mystery spinner is really important. That adds something little extra (to the bowling attack). They (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) have done well, put South Africa in pressure. I think wrist spinners are going to play a role,” he said.