Under Kohli’s leadership, India became the first Asian side to register a Test series win on Australian soil in 2018-19. The Indian team outclassed Australia 2-1 and made them uncomfortable on numerous occasions with an aggressive brand of cricket that former skipper Kohli endorsed in red-ball cricket. Before that series, the Australian tour always looked like a big mountain to climb for India, as apart from quality opposition, they also had to compete against a hostile home crowd.

Former India cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra made a startling revelation about the 2018-19 BGT, during which the Australian broadcasters stooped low to create controversy around the Indian team.

“This is one thing I learnt when I travelled to Australia in 2018 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for a commentary stint with Channel 7. Generally, we were taught to stay neutral in commentary. India won the first Test there and lost the second, and then I understood that when India plays in Australia, they don’t play against the Australian team only but against a whole country, which includes their whole press,” Chopra said in a podcast on 2 Sloggers YouTube channel.

He revealed that during the Perth Test, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja had a heated exchange on the field, and the broadcasters amped up the mic to make a fuzz out of it. He also asserted that legendary Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting tore apart the Indian team for no reason after the incident.

“They used to release videos – they did it in front of me when Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja had a heated exchange with each other while standing in the 30-yard circle. The broadcasters amped up the stump mic as they were abusing each other. They cut the clip and shared it with the press in front of me. After that, when we were talking off the field, I was like, what are we actually trying to achieve because it’s nothing? Then Ricky was there with us, and he said that ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’. The moment he went into the air, he tore into the Indian team, and I was stunned that he had just said something else a few minutes back,” he added.

‘Leave the neutral commentary playing against Australia in Australia’

The 46-year-old said that after that incident, he understood that he needed to throw neutral commentary in the thrash while doing a stint against Australia Down Under.

“Channel 7 was very kind at that time; they called me in the commentary box. I didn’t have the stint at that time, but they called me to present India’s case. I said there is no team where players have no disagreements; it’s a game played by adults. The next day when we lost the Perth Test, I was driving somewhere and picked a newspaper, and the front page news was about Ishant and Jadeja with the headline,”There is in-fighting in the Indian cricket team,” it was front-page news. Then, I understood that leave the neutral commentary when you are playing against Australia in Australia and then understand that the flag of India is more important,” he concluded.