‘He loves the fight’: Rahul Dravid weights in on Matthew Wade’s remarks that he would not sledge Virat Kohli

Former India captain Rahul Dravid explained why Matthew Wade might have decided not to indulge in verbal conversation with India captain Virat Kohli when they visit Australia for a tour later this year.

India are scheduled to visit Australia for a series at the end of this year. Recently, when speaking about the series, Australia batsman Matthew Wade said that he would not be indulging in any verbal conversations with India captain Virat Kohli and the rest of the Indian team as it might spur them on. Wade has used sharp words to get into the skin of his opponents in the past, especially in the 2017 India ODI series and also during last year’s Ashes.

File image of Virat Kohli. (Reuters)

Former India batting legend Rahul Dravid weighed in on the remarks from Wade and went on to explain why sledging Virat Kohli would not be in Australia’s best interests. On being asked about the same, Dravid explained that Kohli is already a competitive and aggressive customer, and it would not be in Australia’s best interests to make him more of his usual self.

“He sort of lives for it, he loves the fight, he loves the contest. He’s pretty competitive and aggressive as it is. You don’t want to get him more aggressive, I don’t know how more he can get,” Dravid said on ‘Sony Ten Pit stop’ show aired on the channel’s Facebook page.

The India batting legend further explained that the verbal confrontations do not actually matter as cricket is a game of skill. “In the end, a lot of this stuff does not really affect players. In the end, it’s a contest. They know they have to be at top of their games. The skills have to be top class. They want to compete against someone like Virat, ” he said.

“Virat also knows he has to be at top of the game if he wants to perform against the likes of Cummins, Starc, Pattinson, Hazlewood - that’s a pretty good attack. He knows that as well,” he added.

Dravid further said that the team which can perform consistently relying on their skills will eventually come out on top. “So, it’s not about words, it’ about the skills. It’s a skills game. The players will be looking to rely on his skills, and who can perform consistently over a long period of time in a Test match, and the team who does that will triumph.

“I think Wade is trying to say that they are going to focus on that skill - and if they get that right, then they can cause him a problem. If they get it slightly wrong, then we know what Virat could do,” Dravid further said.

India are scheduled to play four Tests against Australia with the first Test starting from December 3 at Gabba, Brisbane.