Pat Cummins Says Prediction was More of a Compliment to Virat Kohli
Jan 9, 2019 at 3:47 PM
Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has shied away from his earlier prediction Virat Kohli’s future on the forthcoming Australia tour.
Cummins had predicted the Indian skipper Kohli won’t score a single century on his third tour down under. However, India is slated to visit Australia later in the year for four Tests.
Kohli was at his prolific best when India toured Australia the last time around. He smashed four centuries on tour and ended up scoring 692 runs at a staggering average of more than 60. He was at the top of his game in Australia and churned out runs with utmost ease.
Cummins stated he never felt his comments will generate much traction. Cummins took back the earlier prediction a bit and said he was instead trying to compliment Kohli.
During an interview with Cricket.com.au. Cummins said he never thought his comments would garner such a huge response.
“I was surprised by the traction the comments I made about Virat Kohli got. In fact, I was almost trying to do the opposite to the way they were perceived. I was trying to pay him a huge compliment and say that my big wish list for the summer as he doesn’t score a hundred.
He’s obviously so important to the team and is such a gun batsman, so him not scoring runs would go a long way to helping us win. But I certainly didn’t mean to say he’s no good because I couldn’t hold him in higher regard,” Cummins was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.
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Cummins said it was a compliment to Kohli
Cummins said it was a compliment to Kohli, as he doesn’t want him to score big against them. There is hardly any doubt about the fact that Kohli is the best Indian batsmen across formats. Hence, the Aussies want to dismiss him as early as possible.
“Bruce McAvaney just asked me what my big prediction was that I’d like to see for the summer. I just basically said ‘I’d love to see Virat Kohli not make a hundred because he’s a really good player’. The chances are he’s going to score a hundred against us again sometime, and we’ll be doing everything in our power to try and stop that. It was just off the cuff. It was a pretty relaxed interview to say I’d love for him not to score runs like I’d love any international player to not score runs against us,” Cummins said.
Cummins’ comments didn’t go down well with some of the Indian fans after he made the prediction.
Kohli has been one of the most consistent batsmen for India across formats.
“Obviously, you always get a lot of Virat Kohli. Indian cricket team fans on Twitter having their say, but it’s all good. He’s similar to Steve Smith for us, he really gets himself into the contest and tries to find a way to fire up the bowlers”, Cummins concluded.
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