Published: Aug 26, 2015, 12:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 26, 2015, 12:01 PM (IST)
Former Australian pacer and member of 2003 World Cup winning-Australian team, Glenn McGrath feels India Test skipper Virat Kohli can call aggressive cricket as positive cricket. In an interview to DNA, McGrath said, “People call it aggressive cricket. Another term they could use is positive cricket. You hear it around the world all the time these days. You are not going to hear captains come out and say ‘I am hoping to play very un-aggressive cricket today’ or ‘I hope we are going to play negative cricket’. They are not going to say that. That’s the way they want their team to play. Go with the bat, be positive, look to score runs and not let the other team dominate. Bowl good areas, build pressure, not give away easy runs. Aggressive cricket is more as much about body language and intent than saying too many things out there.” Virat Kohli: Ravichandran Ashwin has been a champion bowler for India
He continued, “The days of playing for a draw are behind us. Because of T20 cricket coming in, the Indian batsmen are a lot more positive, looking to score more runs. I would prefer to watch a team going out there to win a Test over a team that is looking to play for a draw. You have got to get into a position to win. You are not going to win a Test in a session. Potentially, you can lose a Test in a session. A lot of work goes into it. For five days, you should be able to bowl well enough and bat well enough to set the game up for a win.” Virat Kohli indicates Cheteshwar Pujara could open in India vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test
Speaking about Kohli’s captaincy, McGrath said, “He has said he wants to play aggressively. Kohli is that type of batsman who looks to score runs. If it does fire up in the middle, he is there, he is not going to take that backward step. That’s fine. If you have got the ability, the team’s got the ability to back it up and play that way, I think India have quality players. No doubt about that. That’s the way he plays his game, that’s the way the teams wants to play the game.” Virat Kohli’s first win as Test captain vindicates ‘aggressive’ approach
McGrath is not surprised with Kohli’s intention of playing five bowlers. However, he felt the fifth bowler should be an all-rounder. “The first time I heard about the five-bowler theory was not long ago. Australia had four bowlers and a batsman, who was a sort of an all-rounder. My theory is the fifth bowler is an all-rounder. To go with five bowlers only is too heavily weighted towards the bowlers. The batsmen need to really score runs. I always liked three fast bowlers, a spinner and then a quality batting all-rounder.”
When asked about whether sledging is part of the game, McGrath said, “There is far too much being made about sledging. I think the media talk more about sledging that the sledging actually happening out in the middle. I don’t know why they build it up all the time. It is part of the game, there was always a bit of a chat from far back as I can remember. You have got to be mentally tough. And, you have got to be able to handle a bit of banter in the middle too.”
