Virat Kohli's antics in retaliation to the constant booing from the Australian spectators put undue pressure on the rest of the Indian cricketers, feels legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. Criticising Kohli's "Sandpaper act" on Day 3 of the Sydney Test, where he put his hands in his empty trouser pocket and got them out to show there was nothing in an indirect reference to the Sandpaper Gate that rocked Australian cricket in 2018, Gavaskar said because of such acts, the other members of Team India become targets of the Australian spectators.
"Kohli must understand that whatever he does to react to the crowd actually puts more pressure on his teammates, who also then become targets of the spectators," Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kohli, who was given a huge build for all the right reasons in the lead-up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, rubbed the Aussies in the wrong way by giving a shoulder nudge to debutant Sam Konstas in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Since then, Kohli was booed every time he walked out to bat, a reaction criticised by many former cricketers, including Former England Michael Vaughan, who thought it was a rather harsh way of treating a modern-day legend like Kohli.
Gavaskar said Kohli should not have gotten physical with the 19-year-old Australian debutant. "What Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there. The one thing that players learn with experience is that it’s futile to try and get back at the crowds, who have come to have a good time, so booing players is never personal but just a way to entertain themselves. To react to that doesn’t do the player any good, and in fact does more harm," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar said Kohli should not have gotten physical with the 19-year-old Australian debutant. "What Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there. The one thing that players learn with experience is that it’s futile to try and get back at the crowds, who have come to have a good time, so booing players is never personal but just a way to entertain themselves. To react to that doesn’t do the player any good, and in fact does more harm," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar critical of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's form
Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma had a disastrous outing in Australia. In five Tests, Kohli scored just 190 runs at an average of 23.75. 100 of those runs came in one innings in Perth. The eight times that Kohli was dismissed in this series, all were a nick either to the keeper or the slip cordon while chasing deliveries outside the off stump. Rohit, on the other hand, fared worse. He played only three Tests - he was unavailable for the series opener and decided to drop himself from the last Test due to form - and managed 31 runs at an average of 6.
Gavaskar said both of them have big questions to answer about their future in red-ball cricket. "With his continued failures to avoid nibbling at the deliveries around the off-stump, he failed to make the contribution that could have boosted the total. The skipper, Rohit Sharma, was out of his depth and having taken the brave decision to step aside, because of his form, he has also raised big questions about his future in Test cricket," he added.