Virat Kohli‘s emotions are never hidden when he is on the field and in the middle of an intense contest. Taking into consideration the bitter-sweet history between India and Australia, it was always expected Kohli to be aggressive on the field. Kohli was his usual animated self on Day two of the ongoing first Test against the hosts at the Adelaide Oval on Friday as he celebrated every Australian wicket with enthusiasm. Australian head coach Justin Langer said he “loved seeing that passion” but said Australia players would be judged differently if they did the same. “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,” Langer added.
The Australians are without their best batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith and their absence was certainly felt during hosts’ innings. They hardly scored two per over and that turned out to be the slowest Australia have played in a home Test in the first innings since 1994. Reacting to Australia’s slow innings, India’s legendary Tendulkar lit up social media on Friday by claiming he had never seen such a “defensive mindset” from Australia batsmen at home, crediting the impact of off-spinner Ravi Ashwin. “#TeamIndia 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. @ashwinravi99 has been very effective and has played a role to help the team be on top, for now,” Tendulkar tweeted.
However, Langer did not agree with Tendulkar as he said,”The teams that Sachin would have played against started with Allan Border and David Boon, and Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh, and Ricky Ponting. 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.”
