"He's trying to almost pick a fight" - Aaron Finch's interesting take on Virat Kohli's mental state in BGT 2024-25

Former Australian captain Aaron Finch felt ace batter Virat Kohli is almost intentionally looking to get involved in confrontations to rediscover his best batting form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25). Kohli has endured a dismal run of form in Tests, averaging under 16 in the three home Tests against New Zealand coming into the Australia series.

However, after scoring a brilliant second-innings century in the series opener at Perth, the 36-year-old has battled for runs in the next three outings. Kohli is averaging under 28 thus far in the series as India trail 1-2 with one Test remaining.

The veteran batter was also involved in a physical confrontation with Aussie debutant Sam Konstas during the first innings of the fourth Test at Melbourne. Kohli shoulder barged Konstas as the youngster was taking down the Indian bowlers en-route to his sensational 65-ball 60.

Talking about Kohli's mental state as he looks to overcome his dry run, Finch said on the Around the Wicket Podcast [0.12]:

"Virat's someone who's always thrived on pressure and he's thrived when his back is against the wall. It just feels like at this stage, he is trying to put his own back against the wall. He's trying to be antagonistic, he's trying to almost pick a fight because that's when he plays when he feels like someone's coming at him. That's when he puts all his skills on show."

He added:

"It just feels like he's pushing other people to make him feel like that and we've not seen the best of him in this series yet. He looked beautiful in the first innings at Melbourne and looked like he wasn't going to get out but Australia have bowled well."

Despite calls for suspension, Kohli escaped with a fine of 20 percent of his match fee for the Konstas incident.

"Virat is not a nasty person" - Michael Clarke

BORDER GAVASKAR TROPHY TEST: DEC 29 NRMA Insurance Boxing Day Test - Source: Getty

Another former Australian captain Michael Clarke defended Virat Kohli over his shoulder-barge incident with Sam Konstas. Unfortunately for Kohli, the Melbourne outing went south after the ugly incident as he scored only 41 runs across the two innings in India's 184-run defeat.

Talking about Kohli on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, as quoted by News18, Clarke said:

"I know Virat as well, he would have spoken to Sam after the game. Virat’s a great guy. So those two would have sorted it out. I don’t know (if) Virat would have said sorry, whatever it was. Virat is not a nasty person. So that would be fixed 100%. I think Virat was getting frustrated with the lack of respect that Sam was showing the best bowler in the world in Bumrah. I think that’s what frustrated Virat."

Kohli will look to return to his best as India look to level the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the final Test at Sydney, starting January 3.