Murali Vijay recalls Virat Kohli’s aggressive approach on 2018 England tour

Former Indian Test opener Murali Vijay has showered praise on Virat Kohli for playing a key role in taking India’s Test team to new heights during his captaincy tenure. Vijay recalled the 2018 tour to England, in which Kohli took an aggressive approach.

Although India suffered a 4-1 series loss, Virat Kohli shone like a star after a flop show on the 2014 tour. Kohli top-scored in the series with 593 runs in five Test matches at an average of 59.3.

Vijay, who was part of the first three Test matches against England in that series, recalled how Virat Kohli took care of the verbal battle against Michael Vaughan and James Anderson.

“Michael Vaughan was chirpy and he was saying the cloud is all over you and I said I’ll talk to you at Tea time. We were having his banter. Anderson is also aggressive, and he wants to have a chat. I feel Virat Kohli is the answer for us. Just one person is enough. He is aggressive and loves to have a confrontation with opponents. He gives it back ten folds and I was in the hot seat all the time. He likes to talk and bat. It is amazing to bat with him. The energy is so high,” he said on Taruwar Kohli’s YouTube channel.

The former Tamil Nadu batter added that Virat Kohli played a key role in taking Indian players’ fitness to a new level.

“When Virat was captain, I remember, he came to us, he was so particular about fitness. He is like this is what the level we want to achieve. We all really put in an effort, and that was the reward we got in Australia in 2018. It is just about the person’s energy to convince everybody,” he said.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli recently scored 302 runs in three ODIs at an average of 151 against South Africa. Thus, Kohli was awarded Player of the Series.