Former England spinner Graeme Swann reflected on his team’s historic 2012 Test series victory in India, stating that Virat Kohli absolutely revels in on-field battles and Cheteshwar Pujara was nimble on his feet and thus disliked bowling at him.
Swann, who played alongside Monty Panesar in the 2-1 victory in the four-match Test series, advised his fellow Englishmen who will be touring India later this month not to try to take on Kohli.
“We had been told beforehand to not say anything to this bloke (Virat Kohli) because he absolutely revels in a battle in the field and he loves chasing down totals. We knew what he could do in the white-ball format but back then he hadn’t really done anything in Test cricket,” Swann said in a Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
“Steven Finn got driven for a couple of incredible fours and he lost the plot and had a go at him and realised his mistake straight away. Virat roared up like a tiger and Finn just doubled down and got smashed everywhere.”
Kohli was only starting out in Tests at the time. He did not perform well in the first three Tests against England, but he proved his worth in the fourth, scoring 103 and stitching 198 runs with MS Dhoni (99). The match ended in a draw, giving England a 2-1 series win.
“I got him (Kohli) out in the first Test but often you had to bowl the perfect ball to dismiss him. The one batter I didn’t like bowling to was (Cheteshwar) Pujara because was very nimble on his feet,” Swann added.
“It’s strange when I look back at the team they had — VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli — and the one that I didn’t like bowling to was Pujara.” Swann said he benefitted from legendary Shane Warne’s advice on how to play on spin-friendly Indian wickets.
