Nathan Lyon Recalls Virat Kohli’s ‘Federer’ Sledge In Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Watch – News18

Last Updated:November 19, 2024, 19:34 IST

Nathan Lyon recalled a lighthearted sledging incident with Virat Kohli during the India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia has seen many an on-field as well as an off-field battle but one of the greatest generals for the Men in Blur has been Virat Kohli. The sheer presence of the former Indian captain has sent the Aussie bowlers into a tizzy.

His stroke play and heart-on-the-sleave attitude have led India to back-to-back triumphs Down Under and it is no secret that King Kohli has grown to like his tussles with the Australians whenever India went visiting.

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Australian spinner Nathan Lyon recalled, ahead of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which begins in Perth on November 22, how the then-young Indian star pranced all over their bowling attack during the Adelaide Test in 2014.

“The one battle that comes out to me is the 2014 Test at Adelaide Oval where he (Kohli) got hundreds in both innings. I was bowling to him and he was batting that easily. He’d come down to the non-striker’s end and just say ‘Federer’. And I was like ‘Oh, okay, what’s this?’ He kept doing it, kept doing it every time. Every time he’d come down there, he was like ‘Federer, Federer’. And I said ‘Mate, I don’t know if I’m wrong, but are we playing the wrong sport if you think you’re Roger Federer.’ And he goes ‘Nah, nah, I’ve got a beautiful forehand’. I’m just like ‘Ah, okay.’ You’re a decent player when you can just sit there and do that mid-innings,” Lyon says in a video Cricket Australia shared on their official X handle.

WATCH:

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Virat Kohli had scored two hundreds in that match, 115 and 141 but India ended up on the losing side as Australia won by just mere 48 runs.

King Kohli has scored six centuries from 13 Test matches in Australia, averaging 54.08 and is considered one of the greatest overseas batters to step on to the pitch in the country. His average of 22.72 in his six Test matches in the run-up to the latest iteration of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has many fans and experts worried.