Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed his conversation with Virat Kohli after the third Test in Indore in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Speaking to the broadcasters on the fifth day of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad Ashwin said, “Personally, Virat and I had a conversation after the Indore Test. Not that we both connect too often on such lines but I just personally felt that Virat was batting well.”
“He was getting time and was probably just getting out after getting starts, in the 30s and 40s. It was just about putting your hands around the shoulder and telling the person that you are batting brilliantly, just need to hang in there and things are going to turn around. It has turned for me in my cricketing career as well so, I felt a big knock (from Kohli) was around the corner,” he added.
For his calm, composed and patient century in the final Test, Virat Kohli – our Player of the Match 🔝#TeamIndia | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/tfFftZ8HO5
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 13, 2023
Kohli scored a brilliant 186 run-knock at the Narendra Modi stadium breaking his three-year century drought. However, Kohli has been recently in blistering form in white-ball cricket. He scored two tons against Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series.
The off-spinner said, “Even in the ODI series before this, Virat played some wonderful knocks. He is batting well. It is a question of having him and Pujji batting well together which gives us a lot of advantage. One can eat up the balls while the other has a real presence.”
The Indian top order has been struggling for a while. However, the side has been bailed out many times from the heroics of Ashwin himself and Axar in recent times.
Speaking of which Ashwin said, “After playing for so many years I know that runs on board are really important and these two players are our top Test batsmen. Our runs are running come from there so I would do anything to sit and watch them bat all day.”
The final Test ended up in a draw ending the series 2-1. India will meet Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in July later this year.