‘We had been earlier told to….’ – Graeme Swann on avoiding verbal battles with Virat Kohli ahead of England vs India Test series

Graeme Swann, the former English spinner, recalled his days when England played a test series against India in 2012 and Virat Kohli was in his prime form. While talking on the SkySports podcast, Swann mentioned an incident that happened during the 2012 test series. The incident involved the pacer Steven Finn and Kohli while India was batting. 

“We had been told beforehand to not say anything to this bloke. Steven Finn got driven for a couple of incredible fours and he lost the plot and had a got at him and realised his mistake straight away. Virat roared up like a tiger and Finn just doubled down and got smashed everywhere,” said Swann. 

As England is travelling to India to play a 5-match test series, Swann has warned them to not sledge Virat or engage in any verbal fights with him. Even though Kohli’s aggression level has decreased, England should keep in mind that nobody is more competitive than him when it comes to Cricket. Meanwhile, the right-handed batter is set to miss the 1st T20I match of the 3-match T20I series against Afghanistan.

The reason for Kohli’s absence from the first contest is unknown but there were some reports that suggested that due to Kohli and Anushka Sharma’s birthday, the former India captain will miss the first T20I.

England to travel to India with their chef

As the England vs. India Test series is about to begin on January 25, the visiting team have decided to bring in their own Chef for the tour. The board decided to send their chef as some of the players refused to eat spicy food. Moreover, a few of the team members became sick after the Pakistan tour. 

Nick Hoult, wrote in The Telegraph (UK), “England insist it has nothing to do with not trusting hotels to provide clean facilities and is instead about ensuring players, especially those who refuse to eat spicy food, are eating nutritious meals rather than filling up on energy bars and pizzas.”