Dinesh Karthik’s high praise for Virat Kohli

Praising Indian skipper Virat Kohli for his competitive nature, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik said that Virat’s attitude rubs on to his teammates as well.

"We speak a lot about Kohli because of his antiques, his body language, but there are quite a few intense characters there. Hardik Pandya, you see he’ll be chirping all the way; he is somebody who just doesn’t want to let go," Karthik said on Sky Sports. 

"You see a Rohit Sharma, he’s a very quiet guy but plays with so much aggression. Very aggressive but might not show it with his body language but he wants to win everything. Bhuvneshwar Kumar… you go speak to him and he is somebody who can’t take a loss very well. So, you’ve got all these characters. Kohli is at the forefront with his body language, he’s obviously the captain who leads from the front."

India registered a come from behind win in the first ODI against England, courtesy a team effort. Karthik said that it was a special effort from the team and it was the captain who has made it clear at the toss that India were done with coming back in the series and wanted to win the opening fixture.

"If you remember, Virat Kohli said at the toss. If there’s one thing he wants to do, it’s to try and win the first game and not always come back in a series. That’s exactly what he’s done. I think this Indian team believes it can win from any situation. 14.2 overs, 135 for no loss and from there just to get them all out in the next 116 runs takes a special effort," Karthik added.

He also praised the efforts of the pacers for skittling out nine of the 10 England wickets.

"Out of the 10 wickets, nine fell to fast bowlers so there must be something they must be doing right because England couldn’t get many wickets in the middle, but India kept chipping away, he signed off.