Kohli’s behaviour on the field was the subject of much scrutiny in New Zealand, where he gave an aggressive send-off to opposition captain Kane Williamson, after his dismissal on the second day of the second Test in Christchurch.

Kohli was also seen sparring with the crowd, seemingly yelling at them to “shut the f*** up” after Tom Latham’s wicket on the same day, while an another point, he seemed to be gesticulating towards them to indicate that they’d had too much to drink.

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The actions prompted a question from a local journalist, who asked Kohli if he thought he was setting the right example on the field, at the post-match press conference, only for the captain to snap and pose the question back to the journalist. Kohli also asked the reporter to get his facts right, and not come up with questions based on half-baked truths.

“I don’t understand why people in India are asking him to mellow down,” Lal said. “First, everyone wanted a very aggressive captain and now you want Kohli to stop his aggressive streak. I love the way he is on the field. 

“Earlier, people used to say that Indians are not aggressive; now that we’ve become aggressive, people question that and ask why we are so aggressive. I enjoy Kohli’s aggression; we need a captain like him.”

[caption id=”attachment_140128″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] Virat Kohli was in woeful form in New Zealand, and that might have contributed to his aggression[/caption]

Part of Kohli’s frustration on the New Zealand tour was also perhaps down to his own woeful run of form. Kohli totalled 38 runs in four Test innings and passed fifty just once in 11 international outings on the tour.

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It was a reminder of his struggles against the moving ball in England in 2014, but Lal backed the captain to come back strongly from the blip.

“He was out of form. You can say it was a loss of confidence,” he said. “That doesn’t take anything away from him. He is still the world’s best player. At times, technical flaws come in and you then try harder and harder, but still you don’t come out of it. It happens to the best of players.”