‘He Might Play a Bad Shot’: Tim Paine Reveals Why He Was Forbidden to Distract Kohli During Matches

The India-Australia rivalry may have been ignited during the ODI World Cup final, but it is something which was sparked at the time when Virat Kohli used to lead the side. Given Kohli's aggressiveness as a skipper, the Indo-Australian rivalry reached its peak as the players used to be a bit hot-headed, and the fans down under were ruthless. Even the Australian players tried to find themselves an advantage by sledging their opposition, but former Test skipper Tim Paine revealed why he was not able to do it to then-skipper Virat Kohli.

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Tim Paine unveils on being forbidden to distract Virat Kohli during BGT Tests

During an interaction with CricTracker, former Australia skipper Tim Paine revealed several people urged him to not sledge the star Team India batter Virat Kohli. Additionally, he stated that the Indian player has an equal chance of scoring runs whether or not he is sledged.

“People used to say, don't sledge Virat. If you don't sledge Virat... most of the time still get runs, so it doesn't really matter whether you're talking to him or not.

"I wouldn't try too much to fire up Virat, but I would try and distract him if I could because if you can get a bit of a distraction, he might play a bad shot or lose his concentration. But it used to annoy me when people say, oh, don't sledge him, because people don't get better because someone's talking to them,” Tim Paine revealed.

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Virat Kohli is known to be the go-to man in pressure situations and under his captaincy, Team India won the border Gavaskar trophy for the first time when the matches were hosted at the Land Down Under back in 2018-19. Paine was leading the side, but Kohli and the Men in Blue stood tall against the formidable challenge.

The India-Australia rivalry will be re-ignited once again as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be hosted towards the end of this year. It will be an away series for Team India, and it will be a challenge for the Rohit Sharma-led side, which will function under Coach Gautam Gambhir.