'You don't want him to be more aggressive' - Rahul Dravid responds to Matthew Wade's comments of not sledging Virat Kohli and team India

Though India’s tour of Australia is not entirely confirmed as of yet, the war of words has already begun. The hosts who are generally aggressive with their comments seemed to have toned it down a bit as Matthew Wade recently cleared that he won’t be engaging with any team India player during the Test series. He feels that it might spur the whole team on and they know how to use it to their advantage.

Former India cricketer Rahul Dravid has given his opinion on it now and stated that not sledging Virat Kohli will be good for Australia. Knowing the India skipper closely, he pointed out that Kohli loves the contest in the middle. He was pumped up during India’s last tour down under in 2018-19 season as well which saw the team winning the Test series for the first time in the country.

“He sort of lives for it, he loves the fight, he loves the contest. He’s pretty competitive and aggressive as it is. You don’t want to get him more aggressive, I don’t know how more he can get,” Rahul Dravid said on ‘Sony Ten Pit stop’ show aired on the channel’s Facebook page.

Cricket is a game of skills, says Rahul Dravid

Moreover, the former India U19 coach reckons that the verbal contest between the cricketers matters little as cricket is a game of pure skill. No matter how much one gets engaged with the other, it all comes down to playing better than the other side to win the match.

“In the end, a lot of this stuff does not really affect players. In the end, it’s a contest. They know they have to be at the top of their games. The skills have to be top class. They want to compete against someone like Virat. Virat also knows he has to be at top of the game if he wants to perform against the likes of Cummins, Starc, Pattinson, Hazlewood – that’s a pretty good attack. He knows that as well,” Rahul Dravid further added.

Meanwhile, with Sri Lanka tour called off, Virat Kohli and his men don’t seem to be returning to the field sooner and the Indian captain will be eager to hit the straps as soon as possible.