Avoid angering Virat Kohli: Hussey’s advice to Australia

TIL Desk Sports/ Australia need a clear strategy to keep Virat Kohli in check and refrain from getting into verbal confrontations with the India captain during the four-Test series starting this month, former batsman Mike Hussey said. Under leading batsman Kohli, India are unbeaten in their last 18 Tests, registering series wins in Sri Lanka and West Indies, while thumping South Africa, New Zealand and England at home.

The captain’s form has been key to India’s rise to number one in the Test rankings, with the 28-year-old scoring three double hundreds and averaging almost 76 in Tests in 2016. Kohli, who is often very demonstrative on the field, has said in the past that he does not mind on-field skirmishes and Hussey believes it is that fire in his belly that inspires the Indian skipper to perform better.

“I wouldn’t try and fire him up,” Hussey told the Cricket Australia website (cricket.com.au) ahead of Australia’s tour, which starts in Pune on February 23. “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. There’s no need to get involved in that sort of verbal barrage because I think that fires him up even more.”