Ian Healy bashes Virat Kohli for sledging: I'm losing respect for him

03/06/2017

Ian Healy has criticized Virat Kohli for his confrontational attitude and for being disrespectful towards Steve Smith during the second day of the second Test in Bengaluru. Simon Katich, on the other hand, has praised both the captains for handling what was a tensed situation very well.

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith were seen in a middle of a heated conversation during the morning session of the second day of the second Test at Bangalore. Later, Matt Renshaw had confirmed that the Indian skipper had sledged him during his time on the crease. This has not gone down too well with former Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy.

"The pressure is starting to tell on (Kohli). I'm losing respect for him. He's got to be a lot more respectful of his opponents. The stuff he did with Steve Smith was unacceptable," Healy told Melbourne radio station SEN.

Despite praising Kohli’s ability as a batsman, Healy feels that the Indian captain's aggressiveness is putting his teammates under a lot of pressure. He said, "I've said in the past, he (Kohli) is the best batsman I've ever seen. His feistiness and real aggression towards the opposition has been good (in the past), especially when he was not captain. It would lead his team with him. They're more timid than they look and they let on, the Indian cricketers.

"So Kohli's aggression was good for them. But I think it's not good for them anymore. He's really putting some pressure on (his players). You can read pressure all over Ravi Ashwin's face. I think there are massive cracks showing in (Kohli).”

However, another former Australian international saw the incident in a completely different light. Simon Katich has praised both the captains for how they handled the tense situation, which he felt could have easily gotten out of hand.

"I thought both of them handled it extremely well. You could tell there was a lot of emotion out there, India were desperate for wickets. They know Steve Smith is a huge wicket.

"I think Steve Smith handled it well too, he had a bit of a laugh. He took the mickey out of Ishant, Ishant took the mickey out of him. The umpires handled it well.

"All in all, the captains both deserve a lot of credit because that could have easily gotten out of hand. It could have gotten out of hand but it didn't courtesy of the two captains,” Katich said on ABC's Grandstand at Stumps podcast.

Ian Healy bashes Virat Kohli for sledging: I'm losing respect for him

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