The former wicket-keeper batter of India, Saba Karim, remarked that the former captain of the national side, Virat Kohli, went a bit far with his aggression on the field during the five-match series in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under. He pointed out that such behavior won’t benefit any player of his stature.
India powerfully started the series under the leadership of their premier pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, with a 295-run victory before things went downhill for them with three successive defeats during the second, fourth, and fifth Test in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, respectively.
During the discussion with Sports Next, Saba Karim was asked about his thoughts on Kohli’s on-field conduct during the series, in what was expected to be his last red-ball trip to Australia.
“I now feel this kind of behavior does not befit Virat Kohli. He is a senior player now. I agree that there were one or two debatable decisions in Australia this time, but they weren’t from the Australian umpires. They were from the neutral umpires.” Saba Karim expressed this during the interaction.
“If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs”- Saba Karim
Kohli had a heated argument with the 19-year-old debutant opening batter of the home side, Sam Konstas, who smashed Bumrah all around the park for a few boundaries and sixes to excite the fans. Kohli had a deviation in the middle of the pitch to get into the shoulder of the youngster as both of them were engaged. The former was punished with a 20% match fee and one demerit point.
“If there is any doubt about technology as well, that should be discussed with the ICC or the broadcasters and producers. Behaving like that with the crowd and having a conversation like that with Sam Konstas is not right. I feel things are going too far.” Saba Karim highlighted.
Kohli didn’t enjoy a great time in the series with the help of 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75 and the help of one century that came during the second innings of the opening Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth. He was coming into the series on the back of his poor touch at home against New Zealand with 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 with one half-century.
Kohli’s constant struggle against the balls outside the off-stump has made it a huge issue for the batter, as he was dismissed in the fashion eight times in the series. Saba Karim claimed that the aggression should have been shown through the performance in the middle.
“If you have to fight on the ground, do it with runs, with your performance, by taking wickets, and winning matches. The unnecessary aggression we see many times on the ground has become too much. Aggression should be through runs or performance as was shown by Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Nitish Kumar Reddy to an extent.” The former selector of the Indian side elaborated.
Also Read: Was Jasprit Bumrah Over Bowled By Indian Team In BGT 2024-25? Sunil Gavaskar Opines
The lack of runs and similar modes of dismissals could be a reason for the Delhi-born to be frustrated by the end of the series. It hasn’t been a decent start for him either in the longest format in 2025.
“It happens at times that the pressure keeps mounting on you. You are putting a lot of hard work in practice sessions and encouraging and forcing yourself to score runs in important matches, and that too in Australia, where Virat had a good record earlier, but when runs stop coming, you see this kind of frustration.” Saba Karim responded.