Virat Kohli-Steve Smith sledging reminds Steve Waugh of rivalry with Sourav Ganguly
Bengaluru: Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh believes that Virat Kohli and Co who have not been shy of sledging the Australian side, have managed to get under the skin of current Australia captain Steve Smith.
India and Australia enjoy an intense rivalry, and there have been many instances of sledging between the players of the two sides over the course of the history of the sport.
The two sides carried this forward in the second Test at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, the likes of Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Steve Smith, and Matt Renshaw got embroiled in verbal duels at different points in the match.
Captain Smith and Kohli were seen having an intense discussion after Renshaw and Ravichandran Ashwin collided while the latter tried to field off his own bowling.
However, Waugh believes that it is natural for two of the best batsmen in the world to have such a rivalry between them.
“I just see it as two passionate players really enjoying playing Test match cricket,” said Waugh in a live video on the social media.
The 51-year-old went on to explain that the amount of pressure on the two current captains is bringing the on-field emotions out of them.
“Lots of pressure on them. They both are the best…have aspirations to be the best in the world. There’s always going to be a little angst between players at this level,” said Waugh.
While Waugh believes that Kohli may have overdone the sledging a bit too much, the Indians have been able to get under the skin on Smith.
“Virat Kohli, here in Bangalore, has probably been a little bit over the top. But having said that, I think it affected Steve Smith’s batting,” said Waugh. “Its probably the most unsettled I’ve seen him.”
The former Australia captain further went on to say that the Kohli-Smith rivalry reminded him of a rivalry he himself had with another ex-India captain.
“Maybe they both need to pull it back a bit, but again it’s been great viewing for the spectators. Guess it reminds me a little bit of Sourav (Ganguly) and myself back in the day,” said Waugh.
