Several former players have asked Kohli to tone down his aggression, but Sanjay Patel came to his defence.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni retiring from Test cricket, the focus will be on Virat Kohli the captain and his on-field behaviour will be under close scrutiny. While the Indian number 4 has been in superb form in the Test series against Australia, notching up three hundreds so far, he has been involved in a few heated exchanges with the opposition team members. While several former players have asked Kohli to tone down his aggression, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Sanjay Patel, has come to the defence of the 26-year-old.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanjay Patel said Kohli's aggressive attitude was justified as it was the Australians who started it all.
"He will learn. Let me tell you one thing. Sledging is a part and parcel of the Australian team. Virat's sledging is the reaction and not the action. Why he didn't do it in England, South Africa or even at home? Sledging is the creation of Australia. It is not a great concern. Virat is a young boy, who will answer the questions that are been asked of him. He is not a boy who will take it (quietly), but at the same time he will learn," Patel said.
While Dhoni has retired from the five-day format, he will continue leading India in the limited-overs games. When asked if having two captains will lead to creation of power centres, Sanjay Patel dismissed those suggestions while mentioning that it will work to India's advantage. "There is nothing like a power centre. Cricket is being played by two groups. One who go out there in the field and do their job and the others are administrators who do their job outside the field. Having two captains will in fact strengthen our team, we will have two new ideas on the floor."
"We rarely bought the the two-captain theory before. Looking at the future, the selectors felt that Virat should lead the Indian side. It will help him to gain some experience too. Let me reveal that it was Dhoni's decision to have a vice-captain on tours few months ago. We never insisted on this vice-captaincy thing till last year. Dhoni had once said informally to us and since then we have vice-captains on tours. He never told the selectors or us who should be the the vice-captain; he left the decision on the selectors," he added.
India have lost six overseas Test series in a row and when asked if this was the reason Dhoni decided to call it quits, Patel said: "No, it was his body. His body was taking too much of a toll. Test matches are more demanding and he must have felt that this is the right time. We wanted him to carry for long, for at least two more years. I even told him, 'if you are taking this decision under pressure than please change it as we are assuring you that you will remain captain for the coming year'. But he had decided it. Now my personal assessment is that with the Test retirement, he can play on till 2019."
"Every series loss is a concern but we have a young group of boys. We are confident that we will do well in the coming year. They have shown the promise, and it's just a matter of experience. I'm sure under Kohli's captaincy, this team will do well," said Patel, when asked about India's poor showing overseas.
A farewell Test would have been an ideal send-off for the most successful Indian skipper, but Dhoni went away quietly into the sunset. Patel said it was a 'Dhoni brand of decision' which 'only a lion-hearted man can take'.
"Knowing Dhoni, he is not the kind of person who will ask for a farewell Test. He has been never been a demanding person. If having a farewell Test match was the case, he would have played till the South Africa Test series at home next year. To be precise, it was a Dhoni brand of decision. Only a lion-hearted man can take such decision. As BCCI's secretary, I will tell you that neither the board nor the selectors ever thought he was a burden on the team," Patel said.
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