- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 22 Aug 2025 02:05 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs AUS: Ex-Australian batter Joe Burns, who is currently leading Italy, recently opened up about how sledging India's star batter Virat Kohli way back in 2014 had backfired on the team. Burns made his Test debut against India in the third Test at the MCG.
He talked about how he had tried to break Kohli's confidence by forcing him to play some rash shots during his knock. But this sledging backfired as Kohli replied sharply and told Burns that he was just playing in his debut match.
“I’m fairly certain Virat scored 100 that day. There was a little bit of chirp going on. Not sledging, just obviously we got Hadzi behind the stumps and Watto at first slip. Nathan Lyon was bowling, so I’m in close. I think it’s been four hours. I hadn’t said a word. I think I said one line. I said to him, ‘Virat, you got to play some shots, ’” Burns was quoted as saying to Cricktracker.
Burns then revealed that he had realised his mistake and didn't utter a single word for the next four days.
“He stopped the bowler, stopped Nathan Lyon, turned to me and said, ‘You don’t talk, rookie.’ Next ball he faced up, smacked it through covers. It was very embarrassing for me. I didn’t say a word the next four days after that, but it showed me that Virat was not someone to mess with,” he added.
Kohli scored a brilliant knock of 169 runs off 272 balls, in which he had hit 18 fours. This was the highest knock as an Indian batter in Test cricket. He had also scored 54 runs during the second innings and helped the team draw the match.
Kohli had scored another hundred during the fourth Test match in Sydney and ended the series on a high by scoring 692 runs after playing in eight innings at a staggering average of 86.50, which also includes four hundreds. He might have been in sublime form, but the Men in Blue lost the series 2-0.