Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara defended Virat Kohli yesterday against a barrage of criticism from the Australian media, insisting his outspoken skipper was one of cricket’s great ambassadors. Speaking ahead of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia which begins tomorrow, Pujara said he regretted how the series had been dogged by controversy but said the home side were all behind Kohli.
“He is a great leader and so we are fully supporting him,” Pujara told reporters in Dharamsala where the series reaches its climax. Kohli has been in the cross-hairs of the Australian media after accusing his opposite number Steve Smith of systematically abusing the decision review system (DRS) in the second Test in Banglaore.
Smith has admitted breaching the DRS rules by looking up to his own dressing-room to seek advice over whether to review an lbw dismissal, but he insists it was a one-off “brain-fade”.
Kohli’s failure to substantiate claims that it was part of a wider pattern of abuse prompted Australia’s ‘Daily Telegraph’ newspaper to dub him the “Donald Trump of sport” who peddled “fake news”. And the former fast bowler Geoff Lawson, now a pundit for Fox Sports, has accused Kohli of acting like India’s “worst behaved player” rather than displaying the gravitas expected of the captain of his country. Lawson had largely unsuccessful stint in coaching and was sacked as Pakistan coach in August 2009.
“I think it’s really sad to hear such comments. We fully support Virat and he is one of the great ambassadors of this game,” Pujara said. “I think the focus has shifted somewhere else, which shouldn’t have happened. We are very much focussed on the game.”
While the normally prolific Kohli has managed to score just 46 runs in the first three Tests, Pujara has been in outstanding form for India and hit a double century in the last Test in Ranchi.
Australia will retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if they can avoid defeat in the final game although India will remain the world’s number one ranked Test whatever the outcome.
There is forecast for rain during the Test, and should it even be reasonably overcast on match days, there is every possibility of the ball swinging around. “It looks like a good wicket,” Pujara said. “We have played a lot of cricket even in Dharamsala. We have played enough first-class cricket, we know the conditions. We will just try and focus on things which want to focus on, rather than worrying about how the wicket will play. We have played enough cricket on different pitches throughout the season. So I don’t think the wicket will matter a lot to us. We are very confident, the way we have played throughout the series. Apart from the first Test match, we have played very good cricket. So we would look to continue that and win the series.”
India call up uncapped Iyer as cover for injured Kohli
Meanwhile, India have called up uncapped batsman Shreyas Iyer for the fourth and final Test as cover for Kohli, who has not recovered fully from a shoulder injury. Kohli damaged his right shoulder when diving to save a boundary on the first day of the penultimate Test in Ranchi and was off the field during most of Australia’s first innings in the drawn game. The 28-year-old did come out to bat at his usual number four position and took the field for Australia’s second innings.
There is no suggestion he has yet been ruled out of the winner-takes-all fourth test in Dharamsala. “Shreyas Iyer is joining the squad as back-up,” an Indian cricket board (BCCI) source said.
India’s batting mainstay Kohli has scored only 46 runs in his five innings against Australia after scoring a double century in each of the previous four series. The decision to call up Iyer has more to do with the difficulty involved in flying out a last-minute replacement to Dharamsala, which is situated in the Himalayan foothills. Iyer, 22, was Mumbai’s highest scoring batsman in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy and struck an unbeaten 202 in a first-class match for India A against Australia last month.
Cheteshwar Pujara (right) says its sad to hear the comments passed on captain Virat Kohli.
