Sydney, Nov 15: Test captain Tim Paine says Australians have “polarising” opinions on India skipper Virat Kohli, one whom they love to hate as rivals but at the same time enjoy watching him bat as fans.
Australia and India are set to lock horns in a four-Test series with the opening Day-Night game in Adelaide starting December 17.
“I get asked a lot of questions about him, he’s just another player to me it doesn’t really bother me. There’s not really a relationship there with him to be fair,” Paine told ABC Sport.
“With Virat it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. We love watching him bat, but we don’t like seeing him score too many runs.”
The last time the two sides met tempers flared with both skippers having a go at each other at every given opportunity.
The duo even had to be separated by the on-field umpires on a couple of occasions. “Australia and India, it’s a heated competition and he’s obviously a competitive person and so am I, so yeah there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn’t because he was the captain and I was the captain, it could have been anyone,” Paine said.
Comparing his on-field battle with Kohli to the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes, the wicketkeeper-batsman said it always a heated affair when the best players are out in the middle.
“There is always a bit more tension when a player is as good as he is, it’s the same when you play against England, its Joe Root or a Ben Stokes,” Paine said. (PTI)
