Former Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson believes the in-form Indian skipper Virat Kohli still can be stoppable, however, he has admitted that Kohli is playing in a brilliant way.
The 29-year-old Indian skipper Virat Kohli is in a dangerous batting form. The right-handed top-order batsman is now breaking some big records in the regular basis as he recently becomes the fastest 10,000 ODI runs scorer.
In the recent inaugural ceremony of Ekamra Sports Literary festival at Bhubaneswar, when the 68-year-old Thomson was asked whether Kohli is stoppable by any bowler or not, he replied, “Until I go out there (and bowl), I won’t know. He (Kohli) is obviously playing brilliant, but there are ways to tackle top batsmen. I am not saying (for certain) you can control them, but just don’t let them score for one or two overs and they may make a mistake.”
After completion the ongoing Windies tour of India, India will travel to Australia to play three-match T20I series, four-match Test series and three-match ODI series, starting from November 21. Thomson said the other team members should follow Kohli’s pathway.
He added, “I think other team members should play tough cricket like he plays. When he is out, other members should show the fighting spirit. If you score 300-350 you should win (in Australia).”
While Australia will miss their most dependable batsmen Steven Smith and David Warner during India’s tour of Australia, Thomson believes India will have a great chance to dominate over Australia, especially when they have a very good fast bowling unit that suitable on the Australian pitches.
Thomson said, “You (India) have a solid team, a very good fast bowling unit and you should win if you play hard in the upcoming series. There is no reason why you should not steamroll Australia which will be without Smith and Warner. Without these two, the Australian batting line-up is very average.”
He further added, “You see the footwork of the Australians during the series against Pakistan (in the UAE which they lost 0-1). They lack technique, they just want to smack the ball out of the park, which is due to playing too many T20 and ODI matches.”
The ball-tampering incident during the Cape Town Test in this March has hit hugely the Australian cricket. Due to involving in that incident, Cameron Bancroft has been suspended for nine months and then the skipper Steven Smith and the vice-captain David Warner both have been suspended for one-year by Cricket Australia (CA). However, Thomson is very unhappy with the 12-month long suspension decision on the most important players of the nation.
Speaking on that, Thomson said, “Banning them for such a long period of 12 months is ridiculous. I heard that the ban was to be for six months but one person (the Australian Prime Minister) who has no business in the issue called up and it was changed to 12 months.”
Making his international cricket debut in December 1972, Thomson played 51 Tests and 50 ODIs till 1985 and picked up a total of 255 wickets in the international cricket (200 Test wickets and 55 ODI wickets).
The 68-year-old believes that his speed would have clocked 175 km/hr (110 miles/hr) if the current measurement system would be available during his time.
He said, “During my time, the speed was measured at the impact of the ball with the bat and now it is done when the ball leaves the hand. I think I must have clocked 175 km/hr in the current measurement system. Many a times when I bowled at the WACA, the ball used to bounce past the batsman to hit the side screen.”
