Australia will be wary of Virat Kohli, feels Glenn Maxwell
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell feels India captain Virat Kohli is an "incredible captain and a leader" who wants to be the best in everything. Maxwell said Kohli leads by example and has turned the Indian players into a team of match-winners.
Maxwell said Kohli has an insatiable desire to dominate the opposition and makes good decisions as a captain.
"Virat Kohli is an amazing player, an incredible captain and leader. He has got an insatiable appetite for being the best at everything, be it scoring runs, best fielder, best fitness-wise etc. He has an incredible desire to dominate. His technique is almost flawless. He just hits the middle of the bat so much more often than everyone else. He looks like he has more time than everyone else. He just makes good decisions," Maxwell told cricket.com.au.
Maxwell was particularly impressed with Kohli's ODI record. Kohli recently became the fastest batsman to reach 10,000 ODI runs. With 38 ODI hundreds, the 30-year-old is also the second on the list of batsmen with most tons in the format behind ony Sachin Tendulkar, who hammered 49 centuries in the format.
"Look at his ODI record, to score as many hundreds as he does, chasing, consistently winning games for his team. If he is playing well, he feels that he can win the game by himself. That is a pretty scary aspect when one player has that," Maxwell said.
Maxwell also feels that Australia will be wary of Kohli when India tour Down Under later this year for four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.
Maxwell also gave credit to Kohli for changing the mindset of the Indian cricket team.
"I think if you look at the way he has led the Indian team, he has bred them to be winners, he has bred them to be expecting to win. This is sometimes not always easy to do with a team that probably hasn’t had a lot of Test success away from home. But you what them play overseas now and they expect to win. His leadership has bred that confidence throughout the squad. They all walk out a couple of inches tall because of the way he has been playing. That is a very powerful thing to have as a captain. And that is something we have to be wary of when he comes over," Maxwell said.
