Steve Smith says Team India has adopted the Australian policy under Virat Kohli

Not long India and Australia was battling it out in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and both the team captains Virat Kohli and Steve Smith was in the thick of things due to a barrage of controversies which continue throughout the series. The biggest of them was the brain fade episode which irked Virat Kohli to call Smith a cheat. Though he didn’t say the word, but it was obvious from his post-match press conference.

Despite their banter, both have a mutual respect for each other. Smith conceded the fact that the Aussies have been playing aggressive cricket from the beginning but under Kohli India has also adopted the same policy. Their playing style has changed from the time of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni. Virat has been immensely successful in his short captaincy career and his results speak for his credentials.

“Australian cricket hasn’t changed a great deal. We have always tried to play an up-tempo and positive brand of cricket. We were always trying to take the game on and be sort of entertainers and try and be as positive as possible,” Smith was quoted as saying by NDTV.

“India, I think, have adopted a similar mindset, they try to be very aggressive in how they go about things and that certainly seems to be Virat’s approach. I think it’s a great way to play cricket. There has been a little bit of a shift in India’s approach. There is a lot more aggressiveness on the field and a bit of banter here and there, which is always fun,” he added.

Smith was reluctant to comment on that infamous dressing room controversy and said it was a thing of past and he has moved on from that. He accepted his mistake and said people learn from their past mistakes and try to rectify it the next time around. “I don’t want to really cover that issue, it is all in the past. Sometimes your emotions can get the better of you and that’s just the way international sport goes. People learn from their mistakes, continue to improve and get better,” he said.

He didn’t give him any advice apart from “keep playing cricket and enjoying it”. Quality player, I’m sure he is going to be India’s leader for a very long time. But no advice just keep playing cricket and enjoying it,” he added. The Rising Pune Supergiant captain will definitely hope for a victory today against Kings XI Punjab which will ensure their qualification for the IPL playoffs as the 2nd placed side in the points table.