Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer praised Team India skipper Virat Kohli for his competitive attitude and fighting spirits which helped India register a historic win over England in the 2nd Test at Lord's few days ago.
Talking to a news channel, Farokh Engineer said that he was among the first ones in India to give it back to opposition teams. Engineer, 83, however said that Virat Kohli must exercise restraint and remain under limits while sledging the opposition.
"I admire Virat for that. He has been an aggressive captain. It's good. Of course, it has to be within limits. Otherwise, the umpire or the match referee can intervene," Engineer said.
"Maybe sometimes, yes (should he tone down his aggression?). He gets a bit too carried away, at times. But I like his aggression. He is a very good captain. I am all for it. He is I think one of the finest batsmen in the world. Also, they do sledging, so that your batsman lose confidence. But Bumrah and Shami were khadoos (stubborn), they replied in their own way. They couldn't bat very well but they knew how to survive. By surviving, they got a lot of runs and those runs were very important in enabling Virat to declare the innings. That was humiliating for England," he added.
Engineer recalled the sledging battles when he used to play and said that he preferred to give it back to opposition teams with his performances.
"They used to call us 'bloody Indians'. They ridiculed our accent but I answered them back, I gave it back to them on the pitch by scoring runs and wicketkeeping and all that. And by gaining respect. And they began to realise that Indians are not stupid. They understood that Indians are sturdy and in no way inferior. I tried to tell them that I am not equal to you but we Indians are better than you. That's the image I portrayed to them. Oh yes, they don't like it because they are not used to getting it back. They are used to getting one way. We Indians were used to keeping quiet. But I was the first person to start giving it back to them. When you give it back to them, they start respecting you," Engineer added.