NEW DELHI: Veteran batter Steve Smith described Virat Kohli's approach on the field in a unique way, saying the Indian batting stalwart is Australian in his thoughts and action.
India and Australia will renew their intense rivalry at the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will see the two nations squaring off in the all-important five-match series at Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball game), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
India have won the last two editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy held in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21 respectively.
"I believe Virat Kohli is Australian in thoughts and action. The way he gets into a battle, the way he gets into the challenge and tries to get on top of the opposition. He's probably the most Australian of the Indian players, I'd say, " Smith said in a video posted by Star Sports on 'X', formerly Twitter.
Kohli, who has 80 international centuries, including 29 Test tons, has scored 8, 846 runs across 113 Tests with a 49.16 average while Smith has 9, 685 runs in 109 Tests at an average of 56.97 with 32 centuries.
"There's no real, you know, I need to beat him or anything like that. It's just about going out and playing and trying to score as many runs as I can and helping Australia have success and that's what it's all about, " he added.
Smith further revealed that the two players share messages often and expressed excitement to face Kohli in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from November 22.
"We get on quite well, share messages every now and then and look, he's a great guy and obviously a wonderful player. It's going to be nice to come up against him again this summer, " said Smith.