Don’t fire Kohli up
Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has issued a warning to the current crop of Baggy Green not to engage in verbal sparring with India skipper Virat Kohli.
Kohli appears to thrive on the conflict and rose to the occasion after his clashes with Ben Stokes in the recent 4-0 defeat of England on Indian soil.
Hussey told cricket.com.au: “I wouldn’t try and fire him up.
“I think he thrives on that and he’s a real competitor.
“He loves being in the fight and loves the contest out in the middle.
“I’d make sure we have some very clear plans and we try and stick to them as best as we possibly can.
“There’s no need to get involved in that sort of verbal barrage because I think that fires him up even more.
“You don’t want to get carried away with too much talk and lose your concentration of what’s important, which is executing your skills.
“The team that wins will be the one that can execute their skills at the highest quality and for the longest period of time.
“It’s not going to be the team that’s the most verbal or the most aggressive.”
Much has been made of the supposedly more reserved Australia Test team with Matthew Wade seemingly retaining his place in the team because of his ‘presence’ despite a poor run of form with the bat and a string of errors behind the stumps.
Kohli is a key man for India with nobody in the Test team scoring more runs than him since he took over as skipper during the 2014/15 tour to Australia.
Hussey feels getting him out early will be key: “From an Australian point of view, Kohli is public enemy No.1 and we have to get him out cheaply.
“If he gets in, he’ll go big and score big runs.
“He’s very confident at the moment, he knows the conditions so well and generally if he plays well, India win.
“And it’s similar with Australia – Steve Smith and David Warner are the two most important batsmen in the Australian line-up and if they score runs, generally Australia go well.
“If they don’t, the other batsmen are under enormous pressure.
“I’m sure India will be looking at Steve Smith as the key man they want to get out.”
Australia arrive in India later this month for a four Test series having lost their last nine matches in Asia.
Latest
-
News
Brendon McCullum hoping to help England Test team lose ‘fear of failure’
The former New Zealand captain is looking to improve a record which has seen England win just one of their last 17 Tests.
-
News
Brendon McCullum: England can be the nation to reverse Test cricket’s fortunes
The former New Zealand captain has been appointed head coach of the England Test team.
-
News
Matthew Mott: Andrew Symonds came close to playing for England over Australia
The then-teenager was offered a place on the England A tour of Pakistan in 1995 after scoring four centuries for Gloucestershire.
-
News
Stephen Eskinazi stars in record-breaking Middlesex win over Gloucestershire
Paul Stirling made the first century of the Vitality Blast season for Birmingham Bears.
-
News
Ollie Robinson’s England hopes scuppered by back problem
The seamer was plagued by persistent back issues during the Ashes series and missed all three matches against the West Indies.
-
News
Justin Langer blames politics for Australia exit and laughs off England links
Langer was linked with one of the two vacant posts with England.
-
News
He deserves to be there – England’s Matthew Potts backed to shine in Test arena
Potts has received his first international call-up for the squad to face New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.
-
News
On this day in 2015: Trevor Bayliss appointed England head coach
The Australian leapfrogged initial front-runner Jason Gillespie to replace the sacked Peter Moores.
-
News
Andrew Strauss sets five-year goal for England men’s side to rule all formats
The former England captain and director of cricket is overseeing a high performance review into English cricket.
-
News
Shane Warne to be remembered during England’s Test with New Zealand at Lord’s
The former player and TV pundit died aged 52 on March 4 after a suspected heart attack.