I Was Trying To Laugh At Virat Kohli’s ‘Toilet Break’ Sledge, Says Matt Renshaw
Mar 6, 2017 at 12:13 PM
Australia’s 20-year-old opener Matt Renshaw is already punching above his weight with some feisty batting exploits in the ongoing series against India and the southpaw has given another example of his unbelievable maturity with the way he has handled the constant sledging from Virat Kohli.
With Renshaw going strong with the bat on the second day of the Bengaluru Test, the India skipper tried to get under the skin of the Australian opener by reminding him of the toilet break he took in the Pune Test. However, Kohli’s ploy of unnerving the batsman did not make any difference as he went on to score a gritty 60 off 196 balls.
“I was just trying to enjoy it and trying to laugh at what [Kohli] was saying because some of it was quite funny,” Renshaw said at the post-day presser.
“He was just saying that I might need to run off and go to the toilet again, which happened in [the first Test in] Pune, so it was quite funny.”
When asked about the verbal spat between Kohli and Steve Smith, Renshaw said:
“There was a bit of talk but I think that’s because just (Smith and Kohli) are trying to unnerve each other and try and get under the skin.
“It’s about embracing different conditions and challenges that we get. It was all good fun and a good contest out there. It was really loud out there when (Kohli) was doing that (involving the crowd into the game) but it’s something I’m probably not used to,” he added.
With so much at stake during any India-Australia pitch, even the best of players have struggled to deal with sledging. However, Renshaw has been an exception so far and when asked the secret behind it, he said:
“I don’t try and say too much out there. I just try to smile because in my past experience smiling seems to unnerve the bowlers a bit more than talking back. They seemed to get quite frustrated. I’m trying to just enjoy it out there and have fun.”