Veteran Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has compared Virat Kohli to Football Rules player Harley Reid, given the media coverage that Kohli got ahead of the five-Test series. The seam-bowling all-rounder said that they harbour plenty of respect for Kohli and hope to keep him quiet throughout the series as well.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Marsh said: “He’s the new Harley Reid, in terms of back pages. He’s on the back page of the West Australian [newspaper] at the moment. It’s been fun to read. We know he’s one of the greatest to ever play the game, and you don’t become one of the greatest without being able to perform under pressure. So it’s always high stakes. We’ve got a lot of respect for Virat, and hopefully, we can keep him quiet throughout the series, but we know that there are going to be times when he may get on top of us, and you respect that. I guess you’re just looking forward to the challenge of playing against guys like that.”

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When he was asked how surreal it is to see a huge Indian fanbase in Australia, Marsh said that they have a considerable one across the globe in every sport as well.

“I think it’s fantastic. We know that the Indian cricket team is probably one of the biggest sporting teams in the world, in any sport. Anywhere they go, they have a huge amount of support. Indian cricket fans are some of the best in the world, and so the opportunity to play in front of them anywhere you go is always fantastic. I dare say we’re still going to have a lot of Australian fans. It’s been a huge build-up, and we know, certainly with these big series, how much our fans get around us. So to see both sets of fans going at it at the grounds, will be amazing to be a part of,” Mitchell Marsh concluded.