Australian batsman Matthew Wade, during a recent interaction, has made it clear that he won’t engage in verbal duels with Indian captain Virat Kohli, during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scheduled later in the year in Australia.
The last time India toured Down Under, the Kohli-led side created history by becoming the only Asian side to beat Australia at their own turf.
India won the four-match Test series by 2-1, thanks to stellar performances from Cheteshwar Pujara, and the three-pronged pace attack of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
However, coach Justin Langer strictly ordered the team to not indulge in altercations with captain Kohli as it takes the best out of him. Langer’s words were documented in Amazon Prime’s ‘The Test’ released earlier this year.
“Virat is very clever in the way he uses his words or his body language, so they (India) use it as an advantage,” Wade told Espncricinfo.
“To be honest, I don’t want to engage too much into that, I know they thrive off that energy which comes from two (confronting) players. They are probably as good at doing that as anyone in the world at the moment, so it’s something I might stay away from this time,” added the left-hander.
The series will be played behind closed doors, with new guidelines stipulated by ICC, looking at the resumption of cricket post-COVID-19 hiatus.
Wade agreed the fact that players often tap the energy from the buzz of the crowd, and cricket without spectators would be a different ball-game altogether. However, he believed that once the game starts, it’s still a contest between the bat and ball.
The only series to be played in the absence of spectators was in March between Australia and New Zealand. Wade described his experiences as a twelfth man in the game.
“I didn’t play (versus New Zealand in SCG ODI) and was only running drinks, but I spoke to the players out there, and they said walking out to play was a weird feeling, but once a ball was bowled, it felt like a normal game of cricket which we are used to playing. Guys have played hundreds of games of cricket in front of nobody. So they are used to that,” Wade concluded.
