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Adelaide, December 8
Australian coach Justin Langer says if his players were to celebrate wickets like Indian captain Virat Kohli does, they would now be seen as “the worst blokes in the world”. Langer also took umbrage at Sachin Tendulkar’s “defensive mindset” tweet following Australia’s slow batting on the second day of the opening Test against India. Kohli was his usual animated self on Friday, celebrating Australian wickets with gusto. Langer said he “loved seeing that passion” but felt Australia players would be judged differently if they did the same. “He’s (Kohli) a superstar of the game and he’s the captain. We’ve talked for as long as I can remember in the Australian cricket teams that you want to keep the opposition captain down as much as possible. You love seeing that passion in sport,” Langer said.
“Mind you I think if we did that at the moment we’d be the worst blokes in the world. It’s a fine line isn’t it? That’s the truth of it, but I love seeing the passion, that is great passion. But as I said there’s a fine line,” he said.
The head coach did concede the team was playing to a different standard of scrutiny, a fallout of the ball-tampering fiasco in South Africa in March.
Oz defensive: SRT
Earlier, Tendulkar wrote on his Twitter page: “Team India should make the most of this situation and not lose their grip. The defensive mindset by the Australian batsmen at home is something I’ve not seen before in my experience.”
The legendary batsman’s comment did not go well with Langer, who defended his inexperienced batting line-up’s approach. “The teams that Sachin would have played against started with Allan Border and David Boon, and Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh, and Ricky Ponting,” Langer said.
“Guys that had great Test match experience and they knew their game, were comfortable in their own skin and they knew what to expect. Whereas we’ve got a team at the moment who are very inexperienced in Test match cricket, particularly our batting side,” he added.
Tendulkar, who played his first match against Australia in 1991, and his last in 2013, faced a different era of Australian cricket compared to the current side that is rebuilding in the wake of the ball-tampering fiasco. — PTI
Numbers game
5 Kohli joined an elite club of Indians who have notched 1,000 Test runs in Australia, with only Sachin Tendulkar (1,809), VVS Laxman (1,236), Rahul Dravid (1,166) and Virender Sehwag (1,031) ahead of him
18 Kohli is the fastest Indian to score 1,000 Test runs on Australian soil in just 18 innings. Overall, among visitors, only four Englishmen have done it quicker than Kohli in Australia
5Kohli is now the fifth batsman in the world after Allan Border, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Alastair Cook to score 2000 runs as Test captain both home and away
No. of times Lyon has got Indians in Tests
7 Pujara
6 Rahane
6 Ishant | 6 Kohli
No. of times bowlers have got Kohli
6 Nathan Lyon
5 James Anderson
5 Stuart Broad
3
5
6