Enmity of Indian summer to be forgotten

Should their paths cross in today’s World Cup semi-final at the SCG, Mitchell Starc will be doing his level best to send Virat Kohli back to India without a win over the home team to show for his four months in Australia.

But fast-forward a fortnight the pair will be sharing a dressing room, a common objective and – according to Kohli who is an unabashed fan of Australia’s premier one-day fast bowler – a close friendship.

At the close of a summer that has seen its share of ill-tempered on-field exchanges and prompted an endless round of questions about the relationship between the two powerhouse nations of world cricket, Kohli has laid bare the myth that on-field rivals can’t maintain off-field camaraderie.

And while Starc will be aiming to fire a fast, late-swinging yorker through the Indian superstar’s defence and Kohli will likewise be visualising depositing the Australia quick into the packed SCG stands, any enmity will be left squarely in the past once the semi-final is decided.

Kohli will once again captain the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Twenty20 game’s most lucrative competition that gets underway pretty much as soon as the dust settles on next Sunday’s World Cup Final between New Zealand and the winner of today’s showdown.

The Challengers, who will be coached by Black Caps’ spinner Daniel Vettori, begin their tilt at a first IPL title at Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 11 with a star-studded roster.

Perfect time to beat Australia, says Kohli

Joining India’s captain-in-waiting Kohli and Australia’s best-performed bowler of the World Cup to date, Starc, will be South Africa captain AB de Villiers and West Indies power opener Chris Gayle, who is currently battling a back problem, as well as Australians Nic Maddinson and Sean Abbott.

New South Wales teammates Starc and opening batsman Maddinson turned out for the Bangalore-based franchise last year and have drawn effusive praise from Kohli for the contribution they have made to his IPL team.

And he is looking forward to getting to know exciting allrounder Abbott, who will be making his first foray into the 60-match, seven-week tournament for which international cricket all-but stops, and whom Kohli has met "only once".

“Mitch and Maddo are pretty good friends,” Kohli told cricket.com.au in a rare one-on-one interview this week.

“They’ve been a part of RCB and they are really good boys and they are really good with the Indian youngsters and that’s something I really admire about them.

“They don’t really treat lesser players any different from maybe a Chris Gayle or an AB de Villiers in that squad so I think that’s lovely to see from both of them and I’m sure Sean (Abbott) is the same.”

A volatile competitor who unashamedly wears his heart on his sleeve, whether the white shirt of Test cricket or the coloured clothing of the limited-overs format, Kohli has found himself at the centre of several heated spats over the course of this summer.

He was fined 30 per cent of his match fee after the opening Commonwealth Bank Test in Adelaide, where he captained India while MS Dhoni was sidelined through injury, for an altercation with Steve Smith.

Kohli also clashed heatedly with rival fast bowler Mitchell Johnson during an ill-tempered Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, during which he revealed some Australia players had been accusing him of being “a spoiled brat”.

“I respect a few of them but if someone doesn’t respect me I’ve got no reason to respect them,” Kohli said during that Test when asked about his relationship with his on-field opponents.

Tri-Series helped India refresh after long summer

But in the calm air that has settled during the six weeks of the World Cup but is likely to heat up when the teams lock horns in a cut-throat final today, Kohli had nothing but praise for the Australians who will be awaiting his instructions rather than his barbs in coming weeks. 

“It’s been lovely to have them (Starc and Maddinson) playing in India in the IPL, and I will surely catch up with the other (IPL-bound Australian) boys as well.

“But I’m looking to spend some quality time with these three (Starc, Maddinson and Abbott) for sure.”

And Kohli, who has been the target of sustained taunts from local fans from the moment the four-Test series began last December, revealed that he has thoroughly enjoyed his extended visit to Australia.

Clad in a beanie, plain grey sweatshirt and track pants, Kohli – recently named the world’s second-most marketable athlete behind F1 driver Lewis Hamilton – spent an afternoon prior to today’s semi-final wandering undisturbed at large shopping centre in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

“It’s not as busy as the city centre,” he said of the outing that would be unimaginable in his home nation where any such public appearance would trigger mayhem.

It’s easy to understand why he has so enjoyed his Australian sojourn even though he has carried a bad-boy reputation throughout and his team – thus far – has failed to record a victory over the hosts.

Which is why, regardless of today’s result, he barely blinks an eye when passing an assessment on his four-month tour here.

"I’ve loved it,” he says with a warm smile.

"I've loved it."