Australia seamer Pat Cummins on Thursday reverted back from his previous comments that India skipper Virat Kohli will not score a century in Australia during the bilateral series starting from November this year. The 25-year old bowler, in June, spoke to veteran broadcaster Bruce McAvaney in an on-stage interview, in which he said, “My brave, bold prediction; I’d say I think Virat Kohli is not going to get a hundred and we’re going to knock them off over here.”
“I was surprised by the traction the comments I made about Virat Kohli got,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia website. “I was almost trying to do the opposite to the way they were perceived. I was trying to pay him a huge compliment and say that my big wish list for the summer was he doesn’t score a hundred. He’s obviously so important to the team and is such a gun batsman, so him not scoring runs would go a long way to helping us win. But I certainly didn’t mean to say he’s no good because I couldn’t hold him in higher regard,” he added.
“Bruce McAvaney just asked me what my big prediction was that I’d like to see for the summer. And I just basically said ‘I’d love to see Virat Kohli not make a hundred because he’s a really good player’. The chances are he’s going to score a hundred against us again sometime and we’ll be doing everything in our power to try and stop that. It was just off the cuff. It was a pretty relaxed interview to say I’d love for him not to score runs, like I’d love any international player to not score runs against us,” the bowler said.
India will play a 3-ODIs, 4 Tests and 3 T20Is against Australia starting from November 21, 2018.
