“Virat Kohli was so easy to approach” – Josh Philippe on his debut IPL season
Josh Philippe has revealed that he found Virat Kohli grounded and very easy to approach. The wicket-keeper-batsman has been retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2021.
In his debut IPL season last year, Josh Philippe played five games for RCB, scoring 78 runs at an average of 19.5. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the 23-year-old sounded fascinated by Virat Kohli’s humble nature, despite the skipper always being in the limelight.
“The camera never leaves him. It’s amazing to see his intensity on the field, but then away from the field see how normal and humble he is. He was so easy to approach,” Josh Philippe said.
Owing to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, IPL 2020 was postponed from March to September. As a result, Josh Philippe was forced to miss the Marsh Sheffield Shield. While acknowledging he had a “fascinating year”, the right-handed batsman emphasized that he wants to improve in first-class cricket in order to fulfil his dream of playing Test cricket for Australia.
“The dream is to play Test cricket. This year was a fascinating year. I had the chance to go to the IPL, and because it was postponed, I missed Shield cricket [with Western Australia] as a result. I still have a lot to learn with four-day cricket. But if you’re consistently playing and doing well, you never know what happens,” Josh Philippe stated.
In 19 first-class games, Josh Philippe has scored 988 runs at an average of 28.22 with one century and seven fifties to the boot.
“I want to play for Australia” – Josh Philippe
Josh Philippe is currently playing for the Sydney Sixers in BBL 2020-21. He is the second-highest run-getter in the league, having scored 441 runs at an impressive average of 36.75.
But Philippe, who stressed that he wants to be equally good in all three formats of the game, is against the idea of making T20 cricket his priority now.
“I’m young and hopefully I’ve got a long career ahead of me. I want to play for Australia and potentially be good enough to play all formats. They’re my goals. Until that is completely shut down, I won’t just think about the T20 circuit,” Josh Philippe, who has scored 1,317 runs at a strike-rate of 138.92 in 49 T20 games, added.
Josh Philippe could be selected in the Australian squad for the five-match T20I series in New Zealand next month.