Adelaide, Jan.27 : India''s ageing batting kings shouldn''t be treated as has-beens for their flops in Australia, century-maker Virat Kohli has said.
Taking aim at critics of Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman after making his maiden Test ton, a defiant 116 against Australia in the fourth Test in Adelaide on Thursday, Kohli said: "You don''t just curse the legends of the game for (performances in) five, six Test matches."
"What about the 100, 80 Test matches that came before this? The criticism and the praise ... shouldn''t be like you make them kings and then treat them like total failures if they don''t do well,” The Age quoted him, as saying.
"That is cricket - it happens sometimes. It''s the first time they have come to Australia and not performed," said 23-year-old Kohli.
"I don''t know why everyone is forgetting the past 15, 20 years where they have done really, really well against Australia in Australia. We are not panicking about it - I don''t know why people are," Kohli said.
He also said that after the Sydney Test, he kept telling himself every day that he had to be positive and neglect all the other pressures.
© ANI
