Cricket Australia hits back at ‘outrageous’ accusations from India captain Virat Kohli

Kohli had said he raised the issue with the on-field umpires and ICC match referee Chris Broad.

Virat Kohli reckons he doesn’t really care about what former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy says, but we think otherwise.

“It’s not about one individual here, if they keep focusing on the head of the snake then the snake can sting from a lot of directions”, he said.

Kohli, who has shown outstanding form in the home Test series against New Zealand, England, and Bangladesh, has been found wanting in the first two Tests against Australia. Kohli was full of praise for his bowlers for their efforts.

“I’m losing respect for him (Virat Kohli)”.

When a reporter suggested the word he declined to say was “cheating”, Kohli responded: “I didn’t say that, you did”. Kohli’s response was classic: “I did not use the word, you did”. The best part was umpires stepped in and stopped at then and there. “I saw that happening two times when I was batting out there”, Kohli said. “So we didn’t cope well enough as a group in the last four or five sessions, pleased the way we bowled to get us back in the game, and we had our chances with the bat and didn’t get across the line”. “I thought it was going to be closer than that”. He felt that the match was “played in good spirit”. While Smith termed the entire episode as a “brain fade”, Kohli was not amused and insisted that the Aussies were resorting to this ploy right throughout the match. “The way I left the ball in Pune, you know, getting hit on the off-stump?” And that happens to every batsman. I’m very proud of the way they went about it this game, even though we lost. “If more sensible protocols can not be developed, it should be scrapped altogether”, he says. “We probably just needed one or two batsmen to stand up a little bit more and try to get us close to that score”.

In case you didn’t know.. Ashwin (6 for 41 in the second innings) just misses out. When that happened, India were four down and leading by only 33 runs.

Baum adds that India and Australia now have a week “to calm down”.

“We take the decision on the field ourselves”, Kohli said”. The batsman can not seek help from the umpire or the team. India managed a second innings total of 274/10, which gives the visitors a realistic target of 188 with a day and a half’s play remaining at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. “I think it was more to do with how the games have panned out here and that’s why we chose to go with that combination”. “They are timider than they look and they let on, the Indian cricketers”. The third Test between India and Australia begins next Thursday, March 16.

“We weren’t entirely sure”, Smith said.