Fire and ice is the best way to put it for Kohli and Williamson, says Karthik

Ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final, Dinesh Karthik has shed some light on the special bond between Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.

"As cliched as it sounds, fire and ice is the best way to put it for both of them. This guy (Virat Kohli) breathes fire, that guy (Kane Williamson) is about as cool as it comes," Karthik said in a Twitter space organised by Star Sports.

Talking about his experience with the Indian skipper, Dinesh pointed, "You need 32 runs in one over, he [Kane Williamson] is still smiling and making it look like it's too easy. Virat on the other hand, you know he is in your face, if you get it wrong once, he is going to give you the choicest of words when you go back -- once you get out. That's always been the experience that I have had and that is the beauty of playing with both of these guys."

India wicketkeeper also talked about how Kohli's favourite player from 'Big Four' has always been Williamson. "They love their cricket, but they play two different ways. They have had the rivalry for the longest time now, right from the under-19 days, but even now one of the cricketers Virat Kohli genuinely and mutually admires, I think they always put these four cricketers together -- Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith, and Kane Williamson. They are always compared together when you talk about batting or anything. I think his (Virat) favourite amongst those four without a doubt will be Kane Williamson.

"You go on social media and see; he has got nice things to say about Kane Williamson. They have spent a lot of good times. I think they spend a lot of time together. If I am right, I remember a very clear vision of both of them sitting together of watching, both didn't play one of those T20 games, they were sitting together. They spend a lot of good time with each other, they have a lot of respect for each other, most importantly they will play really hard. One will play easy; one will play with a smile and the other one will play it in your face, but they have a lot of love for each other off the field."

Karthik then lavished praises on Cheteshwar Pujara and shared his thoughts on why people shouldn't bother about strike rate, "To touch upon Aakash Chopra's point. Whatever he said was what I thought was perfect. He has been one of those people who has been the supporters of Pujara for a long time. And I feel this strike rate is absolute nonsense. If you take the number of Test matches that have gotten over in four days -- it is about 80-82 per cent. So, why bother about strike rate, let the guy play at whatever strike rate he wants to play, as long as he is able to win Test matches for India."

"If you take that Sydney Test -- absolutely like what Aakash just said -- the number of blows that he just took. Pat Cummins was talking to me about that in IPL -- saying the difference between India drawing the Test match and losing it was one man, Cheteshwar Pujara. The amount of time that he batted, he was giving him body blows. If you had put any of the other Indian batsmen at that stage of the day, early on when there is probably a little bit of juice, they would have struggled. There was a good chance we would have capitulated on that game. For us to not cross that hurdle, to get to Brisbane unscathed, the reason was Pujara in a big way. We can sit down and say, oh he has not got a 100. It doesn't matter."

( With inputs from ANI )