Former Indian leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has come in support of the Indian skipper Virat Kohli who was termed as a liar by veteran England pacer James Anderson, dubbing his remarks as “childish” and “almost silly”.

During a recent chat with Times of India, Sivaramakrishnan said, “This is a typical style of attacking the captain and trying to disintegrate his mind. Once you attack the captain, the entire team stands to suffer. It’s also an Australian tactic. If the captain stands tall, these critics don’t matter.”

As the mind games have already been started ahead of the five-match Test series starting at Edgbaston August 1, England pacer said Kohli’s words that it didn’t matter whether he scored runs or not as long as India won didn’t reflect the reality. According to Anderson, if India had to win the series, Virat has to score runs.

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Sivaramakrishnan, who played nine Tests for India, reckoned that all batsmen would need to score runs and slammed Anderson for taking on Kohli in a “childish” manner. He advised the English bowler to concentrate on his own bowling instead and get fit and grab a few wickets.

The veteran spinner said India would have to bat well to see the series going their way. He said, “It all depends on the first innings of the first Test.” He also said the spinners will play a crucial in the series as well.

Anderson has a history of taking on Kohli. During the 2016-17 series in India, too, Jimmy Anderson was found poking the Indian skipper saying he didn’t score many in English conditions (Virat had belted England brutally in that series) provoking Ravichandran Ashwin to cross swords with him in defense of his skipper. It was Kohli who had to mediate between the two players then.