From the moment Shikhar Dhawan mocked an injured Shane Watson in 2013, to David Warner’s controversy as the official instigator during the 2014-15 tour, the rivalry between India and Australia has had heated moments.There was a time when this rivalry seemed on the verge of coming to blows on the field. India’s tour of Australia in 2018-19 promised to be the most tense, but before that, the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town changed things.That series was characterized by funny jokes, but nothing as unpleasant as we were used to seeing in the clashes between India and Australia. Later, during the World Cup, the Indian captain, Virat Kohli, asked Indian fans to stop booing Steven Smith.Before the start of the 2020-21 Test series, some wondered if this new respect between the teams would compromise the intensity and integrity of the matches.
On the eve of the first Test in Adelaide, Kohli was asked about the reasons for the improved relationships. His answer summed up the evolution of the rivalry: the teams play together a lot in the IPL and know each other better. In addition, the protagonists are older, wiser and more secure in their place.
Since the Cape Town incident, Australia has acknowledged that its behavior was not appropriate and has strived to find the balance between competitiveness and exemplary behavior. This year, people have reviewed their priorities and realized how unnecessary certain things were.
It’s a combination of all those factors. I think this year has also made people realize that many things might not have been necessary in the past, where you hold grudges and have unnecessary tensions between teams and individuals, which is absolutely useless.
Virat Kohli
“You’re still going to be professional and make sure you’re positive and aggressive in your body language and the way you go about things on the field. But I don’t think things are going to be as personal as they used to be before either, because of the fact that we understand that we are contributing to a greater cause. And it’s the quality of cricket that has to stand out. Obviously, you’re going to try to get people out, you’re going to try to score runs, but at the end of the day, unnecessary things are going to filter themselves out,” Kohli added.Virat Kohli: “El reconocimiento al rendimiento o al carácter de alguien llega al final de los cinco días, eso es lo que creo”Australia’s claims of trying to behave better haven’t always been taken at face value, but Kohli acknowledged that they had changed “to some extent.” “It could be a culmination of playing in the IPL together, a lot of IPL cricket, Australia changing their approach to some extent, and also the way things have panned out this year,” he said. “Everyone is grateful for the opportunity to get back on the field. It’s not that the matches haven’t been as intense or competitive, it’s just the unnecessary trash talk that has filtered out. I feel there’s a lot more respect between the teams. You can see it on the field, and I hope cricket remains competitive.”«We must not compromise the quality of cricket. Banter is going to continue here and there all the time. That’s the highest level of cricket we play, and it’s going to be very competitive. There’s going to be tension, there’s going to be stress, there are going to be emotions that will be unleashed from time to time. I don’t foresee anything becoming personal. I think we, all of us, are also getting smarter, and [we have] a few more years in our careers. So we’re going to make better and smarter decisions, and make sure the quality of cricket is maintained».The dichotomy in all this is that Kohli is highly regarded in Australia because he gives back as good as he gets; in the words of Greg Chappell, that makes him the most Australian non-Australian. Kohli was asked if the players felt vilified doing what they do at certain times, which is to give it their all within the rules to win the match for their teams.”The media has every right and space to see things and perceive them as they want,” Kohli said. “For us, as cricketers, we understand that we do what is required for the team at that moment. To make sure we are moving forward as a team, whether it’s facing some banter on the field or being aggressive in our plans or in our body language as a team.”At the highest level, the quality of cricket cannot be compromised. If you go to the field thinking that we will have smiles and handshakes all day, and you know, we are not going to be so competitive or so aggressive in our body language, then I think it’s a bad idea. You have to maintain the dignity of the sport, but you also have to understand that you are competing at the highest level with two quality teams facing each other.And there will be times when things get difficult and teams will face each other, but not disrespectfully, that’s what I meant. There’s definitely a lot more to Test cricket. Recognition of someone’s performance or character comes at the end of the five days, that’s what I believe. And through the five days, obviously, the public is going to try to make things as difficult as possible for us. We are going to try to make things as difficult as possible for the opposition, and that’s the beauty of Test cricket.You can appreciate the efforts made by both teams at the end of the five days and making sure you don’t take anything off the field is what I wanted to say. But on the field, things are going to be competitive, it’s going to be high-voltage cricket because there are quality players in both teams hungry and eager to perform for their teams and make sure they help their team win. It’s definitely going to be as competitive as it has always been for so many years between India and Australia. In other words, tough but fair. How much more Australian can Kohli get?
