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India vs Australia 2018: Virat Kohli admits making mistakes in previous tours Down Under

Virat Kohli said that he made a number of mistakes during previous tours of Australia but they were important lessons for him to learn from.

Virat Kohli said that making mistakes in his previous tours were an important learning curve for him. (AP Photo)

Virat Kohli admitted that he made a number of mistakes during his previous tours of Australia in terms of “where to draw the line.” In an interview with former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist for Fox Sports, the Indian captain said that he is “massively” different from the player he was earlier. “I didn’t have a good understanding of where to draw the line and stuff like that. Those are things that I, I wouldn’t say I regret, but those definitely I look at them as mistakes. But mistakes that were important for me to commit so I can learn from them,” he said.

Kohli gained infamy for giving the Sydney Cricket Ground the finger during India’s disastrous 2011/12 tour of Australia. That was also the tour in which he scored his maiden Test century, which came in the second innings of the fourth Test in Adelaide. “The one thing is that I’ve always been myself, I’ve never tried to be someone else because of the opinion,” said Kohli.

“I was never a perfect mould of typical, old school cricketer, I always just wanted to find my own way and I guess those things were a part of that journey.”

Kohli’s second tour Down Under was a more productive one, albeit with just as many run-ins with the opposition. He had said in a press conference during the third Test in Melbourne that he liked playing against Australia “because it is very hard for them to keep calm.”

“They were calling me a spoilt brat, and I said, ‘Maybe that’s the way I am. You guys hate me, and I like that.’ I don’t mind having a chat on the field, and it worked in my favour I guess. I like playing against Australia because it is very hard for them to stay calm, and I don’t mind an argument on the field, and it really excites me and brings the best out of me. So they don’t seem to be learning the lesson,” he had said.

But Kohli said making those mistakes were an important part of his journey. “I learn from my own mistakes, I realise my own mistakes myself and just kept correcting them through the journey,” he said.

His team is eyeing a first-ever series win Down Under. Batting first, the Indian top order failed to produce too many runs and it was Cheteshwar Pujara’s 125 that took them to a total of 250. Kohli, who came into the series in majestic form, fell for just three runs thanks largely to a blinder of a catch by Usman Khawaja at slips. The bowlers backed up Pujara’s efforts on Day 2, and reduced Australia to 191/7.

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