India’s captain Kohli is someone who lets his willow tree speak out against any opposition around the world. Labeled as one of the best hitters after the legendary Sachin TendulkarIn all game formats, the treadmill has been an inspiration to young people, as well as the ‘favorite’ of many cricket legends. In fact, Kohli also received a great compliment from the great lord of the West Indies. Vivian richards who said that the Indian patron reminds him of himself.
Former captain of Zimbabwe Andy Flower, who is also the head coach of the Delhi Bulls in Abu Dhabi’s T10 league, called Kohli incredibly skilled.
Flower, 52, coached the England cricket team between 2009 and 2014 and helped the Three Lions win numerous titles. Under his tenure as coach, England won the Ashes and the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, held in the West Indies.
Flower played 9 tests against India and scored 1,138 runs averaging 94.83, including three of 100 points and seven of fifty. He also played 36 ODIs against India, scoring 1,298 runs with an average of 40.56, including a century and 11 fifties.
In an interview with Timesofindia.com, Flower, who played 63 tests and 213 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1992 and 2003, gave his input on the Virat vs Smith debate, and also spoke about whether he will be open to coaching the Indian cricket team. , and your favorite memories of playing against India.
Excerpts …
If you had to choose the most complete batter between virat Kohli and Steve Smith, who would you pick and why?
Well, it would be difficult to choose between them. Smith has done amazingly well in test cricket. I was surprised at how well he has done. But he has shown that he can adapt his game and that is a wonderful quality to be able to adapt, evolve and develop as Smith has.
Photo credit: BCCI
Kohli is incredibly skilled, hungry (for racing) and likes combat. He likes battle. And I really admire that in him. I admire his energy that increases all the time. I think they both have very good leadership traits. They are good role models. I know Steve Smith he’s had some battles in that area, obviously. But I admire you both and I am not going to choose one or the other.
England were at their best with you as a coach. If the opportunity presents itself, would you be willing to take on the role of coach of the Indian team?
I have done a year of franchise training and have really enjoyed it. The variety of challenges, meeting a lot of new people, making a lot of good relationships with the players and the staff. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m going to do at least one more year and then probably think about my own coaching career and what I want to do with it. I would not rule out training internationally again.
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And obviously, India is one of the most important test nations in the world. And I think it is an honor to lead your country and represent a country either as a captain or as a coach and leader of whatever country you are committed to. So I’ll take this next year and enjoy my franchise challenges. And then I’ll keep my options open and reassess them.
Your favorite cricket memory against India …
Well, I have a number of good memories of cricket against India. I will work with some of them. First of all, our debut test was against India. Kapil Dev was playing. We had them in a little trouble, and he got them out of trouble in our first Test Match. That was really interesting to watch. And our spinner John Traicos got five wickets against them on a pretty good track, which I think was an amazing thing to watch. Traicos was in his early 40s. He was an outstanding artist. He had played test cricket for South Africa a long time ago. And then he came in and took five wickets with his detour against a brilliant Indian batting lineup, including Tendulkar.
Then my first away test match was in Kotla (Delhi) and I scored a 100 there. So, I have a beautiful memory of the races against India. It was not a fully developed field at the time, but the atmosphere and following of test cricket fans at the time in India was incredible. So that was brilliant. And I’ve had some success with a bat in India. So all of those are really good memories for me.
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But I think if you were to ask me what is my longest lasting memory of playing against India, it would be India and the love for the game across the country and the surrounding area, while we only have 12 million people in Zimbabwe and soccer is the main game. To come to India and not just play in front of these crowds who love the game so much, but travel all over the country to all kinds, all parts of the country. And everyone knew what was going on in the series, everyone knew your stats, everyone knew everything about the Zimbabwe team. That is my enduring memory of cricket in India.
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