'Very infectious intensity': Faf du Plessis reveals how Virat Kohli's 'bullish style of play' made India harder to bully originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Faf du Plessis says Virat Kohli’s fiery approach made India harder to bully abroad.
- He recalled a dangerous Wanderers pitch where Indian batters hid every sign of pain.
- Du Plessis said Kohli’s training and energy lifted teammates and made his intensity infectious.
Faf du Plessis on Virat Kohli: How former captain's aggressive leadership changed Indian cricket's mindset
Few cricketers have changed the way opponents think about a visiting side as much as Virat Kohli did during his years as India captain, and one of his old rivals has now explained exactly how it felt from the other end.
Faf du Plessis, who captained South Africa against Kohli’s India and later became his teammate at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, says the hard edge Kohli brought to the team made it almost impossible to push India around.
For a long time, touring teams treated India as a side that could be rattled away from home. Australia, England and South Africa were all known to lean on sledging, short-pitched bowling and a constant stream of chatter to unsettle Indian batters on foreign soil.
Kohli changed that script. According to du Plessis, he refused to give an inch, answered the opposition’s talk head-on and expected his fast bowlers and fielders to match the same level of aggression, or even raise it. It was never just for show, either. His approach came with a clear obsession with fitness, loud celebrations and an appetite for a fight.
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Faf du Plessis explains how India stopped being a soft touch abroad under Virat Kohli
The conversation took place with journalist Prakhar Gupta, who asked du Plessis to describe what Kohli’s intensity actually feels like, both when you’re on his side and when you’re up against him.
“It’s hard to (explain), because the intensity is so in your face," Du Plessis began.
"So you’re competing at that level of intensity, so you feel like, ‘If I don’t compete against this guy at his level, then he’s going to be a level above me,’ which will mean that as the South African captain I can’t let that happen, ’cause he’s leading his team in his way to pick them up.”
He went on to say that India as a whole became a tougher group once Kohli took charge, and that the change was visible from the outside.
Du Plessis added: “That’s something that I definitely saw within Indian cricket, is the level of intensity went up with him being the captain. So there was a hardness around the Indian cricket team, like you couldn’t bully them because of the way that he played the game.”
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The most striking part of the conversation was a story from a Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Du Plessis recalled a pitch that had turned seriously dangerous, and he described the moment Dean Elgar was struck on the head by a ball that came off a length.
Du Plessis narrated: “I remember a Test match at Wanderers when the pitch was dangerous, really dangerous, and Dean Elgar got hit on the head off a length ball, and I was like, ‘Someone can die.’ It felt that dangerous, like the ball could hit you in your throat, and it was a lot of pace.”
India were slightly ahead in the match at that stage, which he said shaped how each side naturally reacted. The team in the stronger position would want to carry on, while the one that was behind would want the game stopped. Du Plessis called that a normal reaction, but what stood out to him was how India handled the situation.
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He revealed: “The message to the Indian batters was that if you get hit on the gloves or the hand or the head or the throat, don’t show anything, because it will mean that the game might get called off. So that message was sent through the Indian batting lineup, and they got hit a lot of times, but there was no carry-on.”
Du Plessis was clear that the effect didn’t come from speeches. He pointed out that leaders are often said to lead from the front, and he felt this was a textbook example of actions speaking louder than words.
“Your action will be much more powerful than your words, and that’s a great example," he said.
"So that intensity on the field is your action, and the way that he plays the game, and the way that he trains. You look at him and you go, ‘Well, if he’s doing that, I’ve got to do that.’ So really that intensity then lifts the standard of the players around him. So very infectious, that intensity.”
Du Plessis believes that Kohli was "inspirational" in his own way and added: "If he’s looking like he’s going to run through a brick wall, you feel like he might run through a brick wall and I have to do the same.
"So if I don’t do that, then I’m not at that level, which means I’m weak, which means I’m not doing a service to what I need to do here for my country or for the other team. So very inspirational.”
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Virat Kohli made India a side that other teams could no longer push around
Earlier Indian teams had plenty of fiery characters, with Sourav Ganguly the obvious example. Du Plessis’ point is that Kohli’s version spread through the entire group rather than staying with one man.
Fast bowlers such as Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami drew energy from what they saw on the field, and India slowly turned from a home side built around spin into a pace-hunting unit that could take 20 wickets in South Africa, Australia and England.
Opponents noticed it too. Rival captains often found that sledging Kohli or his team simply backfired, and South Africa’s use of the so-called silent treatment in 2018 was a way of avoiding exactly that. The attitude also sits at the centre of India’s first Test series win in Australia in 2018-19 and their stronger showings across the SENA countries since then.
What stands out in du Plessis’ account is the Wanderers story, because it shows that the change went well beyond loud celebrations and stare-downs. Indian batters took blows to the gloves, the hands and the body and gave nothing away, which is a level of discipline that only comes from a captain who sets the standard himself. His fitness work, his training habits and his refusal to back down all told teammates what was expected, and they followed.
Kohli’s methods weren’t to everyone’s taste, and critics will always point to the heated moments. Even so, when a former opposing captain says that you couldn’t bully that team, it’s the strongest endorsement a leader can receive. Kohli didn’t merely score runs and lift trophies; he gave Indian cricket a harder, prouder identity that will outlast his own career.
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