Follow us on TelegramFormer Indian leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan stood by Indian captain Virat Kohli who was accused of lying by veteran England pacer James Anderson, dubbing his remarks as “childish” and “almost silly”.
“This is a typical style of attacking the captain and trying to disintegrate his mind. Once you attack the captain, the entire team stands to suffer. It’s also an Australian tactic. If the captain stands tall, these critics don’t matter,” Sivaramakrishnan told Times of India on Tuesday, July 24.
As the mind games escalated ahead of the five-Test series starting at Edgbaston August 1, England quick said Kohli’s words that it didn’t matter whether he scored runs or not as long as India won didn’t reflect the reality. According to Anderson, if India had to win the series, Kohli’s batting form mattered.
Siva slams Anderson’s ‘childish’ behavior
Sivaramakrishnan, who played nine Tests for India, though agreed that all batsmen would like to score runs but slammed Anderson for taking on Kohli in a “childish” manner. He advised the English bowler to concentrate on his own bowling instead and get fit and grab a few wickets.
The 52-year-old former spinner said India would have to bat well to see the series going their way. “It all depends on the first innings of the first Test,” he said. He also said the spinners will be playing a role in the series as the weather conditions are on the warmer side.
Anderson has a history of taking on Kohli. During the 2016-17 series in India, too, Anderson was found taunting batsman Kohli saying he didn’t score many in English conditions (Kohli had belted England brutally in that series) provoking Ravichandran Ashwin to cross swords with him in defence of his captain. It was Kohli who had to mediate between the two players then.
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