Australian Test captain Steve Smith has a rather negative strategy to tackle Indian captain Virat Kohli. He wants to make him angry and force him to commit mistakes as a leader of the team. He said his team will try to “ruffle his feathers.”
“He is a very emotional character out on the field, but I think he has improved a lot there,” he said on ABC Grandstand.
“I guess for us as a team it’s trying to get him out of the strong emotional state and try and make him, I guess, a little bit angry and ruffle his feathers and things like that,” he added.
However, if we take a look at Virat Kohli’s record against Australia, it is advisable that Steve Smith works on a Plan B as the strategy to make him angry had not worked in the past for the Kangaroos.
Kohli has played 12 Test matches against Australia and has scored 1276 runs at an average of 60.76. He has hit 6 centuries against the Australians- 5 have come on their turf. He has also scored 3 half-centuries against them. This is no ordinary record. He performed stupendously in spite of the fact that the Australians are considered one of the fiercest competitors on the field and the biggest sledgers.
Virat Kohli is in a tremendous form this year. He scored 1215 runs in Tests in 18 innings, hitting 3 double-hundreds and a century at an average of 75.93. If he continues the form he can single-handedly win the series for India. As a captain also, he has been spot-on- he has not lost a Test match for last 18 matches. He recently whitewashed the Kiwis 3-0, and also handed a humiliating 4-0 drubbing to England.
Things are not going well for the Australians. The last Test match they won in India was in 2004 and have lost 8 out of 10 matches altogether. The last time they visited India, they were disgraced by the Indians- they lost the series 4-0. They have lost last 9 Tests they have played in Asia and were recently crushed by South Africa in home series.
Australia will play 4 Tests in the series against India. If they do not concentrate on their batting and bowling, it is a foregone conclusion that they are up for another 4-0 whitewash.
