John Buchanan, former Australian coach, recalled India’s historic Test series win over Australia in 2018-19, saying even though it was Cheteshwar Pujara, who emerged the highest run-scorer for India in the series, captain Virat Kohli’s contributions were equally significant.
During India’s famous maiden 2-1 series win in Australia in 2018-19, Cheteshwar Pujara top-scored with 521 runs in four Tests, including three centuries, while his skipper contributed with 282 runs.
John Buchanan: Virat Kohli’s Real Contribution Is His Leadership And Captaincy
Virat Kohli scored 692 runs in 2014-2015 unlike 2018-19 which was nowhere close to his earlier performance. John Buchanan reckons Virat Kohli was a monumental figure in that series and the India captain’s absence in the last three Tests would have an impact on India’s performance in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy comprising of four Tests.
“He (Kohli) has done an incredibly good job – irrespective of whether he is scoring runs or not. If we go back to 2019, (Cheteshwar) Pujara was the star of the series and Kohli made some contributions, so did (Ajinkya) Rahane. But Kohli’s real contribution is his leadership and captaincy and the way he instills greatness – not only to win games, but also in finding a way to beat teams,” John Buchanan told Sportstar.
During the last week of the IPL, Virat Kohli arrived for the long Australian tour comprising of 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is and 4 Tests saying the bio-bubble duration will also play an important factor.
Virat Kohli stressed upon that being in bio-bubbles tends to have an effect a sort of mental wear down on players and John Buchanan echoed the same and reckons that is where India will miss Virat Kohli both on and off field.
“There hasn’t been a lot of Test cricket. They are going to be inside a bubble for at least two months and I do believe that someone like Kohli is a very positive person, engaging person, who cares about his team very much off the field as well.
“Whoever replaces him – which is probably going to be Rahane – might be a good leader, but Kohli has something special about him. It’s not only on the field, but they will also be missing him off-the-field, because it’s going to be a long tour,” he added.
Virat Kohli will play the three T20Is and as many ODIs, along with the first day-night test at Adelaide before returning to be with his wife Anushka Sharma, who is due to give birth to the couple’s first child. John Buchanan said that Virat Kohli is a special player and will be missed on and off field.
Steve Smith And David Warner Will Be Back After Missing Last Test Series
Besides Virat Kohli’s absence, another factor that will make like somewhat more difficult that the last tour is the return of tainted duo of Steve Smith and David Warner who were serving ban due to ball tempering missing the previous Test series against India in 2018-19.
“Neither teams have experienced these things before, but nonetheless, it makes it even harder for the touring team when these are the circumstances surrounding you and the environment,” John Buchanan, Australia’s World Cup winning coach added.
31 year old Steve Smith featured in 73 tests and averages 62.84. David Warner on the other hand played 84 Tests and averages 48.94.