'The Way He Tries To Get On Top Of Opposition': Steve Smith Believes Virat Kohli Is Australian In Thoughts & Actions

Star Australian batter and former captain Steve Smith has described Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli’s approach in the field in a unique way. According to Smith, who is one of the best Test batters of all time, Kohli is Australian in his thoughts and action.

“I believe Virat Kohli is Australian in thoughts and action. The way he gets into a battle, the way he gets into the challenge and tries to get on top of the opposition. He’s probably the most Australian of the Indian players, I’d say,” Smith said in a video posted by Star Sports on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.

Kohli, who made his Test debut for India in 2011, will be a key player for the Rohit Sharma-led side in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India will travel to Australia later this year for a five-match Test series, which is set to start on November 22 in Perth. The next four matches are scheduled to take place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Kohli led India to a historic first-ever Test series win in Australia during the 2018-19 tour, and in the last series played Down Under as well, India managed to get the better of the Baggy Greens.

Since his debut, Kohli has played in 113 Tests for India and has scored 8,846 runs with a 49.16 average, whereas Smith has 9,685 runs to runs in 109 Tests.

According to Smith, whenever he goes out to bat, he only thinks about scoring as many runs as possible to help his side win the match.

“There’s no real, you know, I need to beat him or anything like that. It’s just about going out and playing and trying to score as many runs as I can and helping Australia have success, and that’s what it’s all about,” he added.

The former Australian batter also revealed that he and Kohli share messages often and expressed excitement to face the former Indian captain in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“We get on quite well, share messages every now and then, and look, he’s a great guy and obviously a wonderful player. It’s going to be nice to come up against him again this summer,” said Smith.