“Puts more pressure on his teammates” - Indian legend’s advice for Virat Kohli after BGT 2024-25

Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes Virat Kohli's on-field actions put pressure on the rest of the squad as the opposition primes the entire team as the target. A lot of Indian players had to bear the brunt of a charged-up Australian crowd and team after Kohli riled them up with a shoulder barge to Sam Konstas during the Boxing Day Test.

The ace batter is known for his aggression on the field and getting into the face of the opponents. During the Border-Gavaskar 2024-25 series, apart from the incident with Konstas, Kohli was constantly involved in banter with the opposition players.

He had the further license to bring out his true self during his stint as stand-in captain during the series finale in Sydney. On the final day of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), he overturned his pockets to taunt the crowd over the infamous Sandpaper gate.

Kohli had to pay for his altercation with 19-year-old Sam Konstas. He was handed a demerit point and fined 20 percent of his match fees. The incident affected the rest of the team as well, with the crowd turning hostile.

Gavaskar slammed Kohli for initiating the incident with the youngster and opined that the attempt to intimidate did more harm than good.

"What Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there. The one thing that players learn with experience is that it’s futile to try and get back at the crowds, who have come to have a good time, so booing players is never personal but just a way to entertain themselves. To react to that doesn’t do the player any good, and in fact does more harm," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Age.

"Kohli must understand that whatever he does to react to the crowd actually puts more pressure on his teammates, who also then become targets of the spectators," he added.

The Australian crowd has admired the former skipper's competitive spirit, which has been on display since his first tour in 2011-12. However, his decision to go after a debutant without any provocation meant that they turned their backs on him.

"He failed to make the contribution that could have boosted the total" - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was arguably at his best during the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar series, where he had to lead the team on multiple occasions. Despite his recurring altercations with Mitchell Johnson, David Warner, and the media, he earned the respect of the crowd as he walked the talk with the bat.

However, this time around, with only a ton in the series opener to show for, Kohli had a dismal campaign. He ended up with only 190 runs in nine innings, to possibly bid goodbye to Australian soil on a bitter note.

"With his continued failures to avoid nibbling at the deliveries around the off-stump, he failed to make the contribution that could have boosted the total. The skipper, Rohit Sharma, was out of his depth and having taken the brave decision to step aside, because of his form, he has also raised big questions about his future in Test cricket," Gavaskar added in the same column.

India lost the Border-Gavaskar series 2024-25 by a 1-3 margin. The defeat also led to their elimination from the World Test Championship (WTC) final race.