Australia could turn to the mundane as they attempt to reign in the influence of India’s premier batsman Virat Kohli in his first Test as full-time skipper at the SCG next week.
Kohli sits behind only the imperious Steve Smith in terms of runs scored over the three Tests thus far in the Border-Gavaskar series and again looms as a key wicket for the Australian in the fourth and final Test.
Dubbed a ‘spoilt brat’ by the Aussies, Kohli has scored 499 runs at 83.16 including three centuries and has used a number of heated onfield exchanges to successfully spur him into action.
Australia hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, but their verbal assault upon Kohli, who will assume the Indian leadership after MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket following the drawn MCG Test, has largely backfired.
In his last press conference as Indian skipper Dhoni implored both sides to “tone it down” for the Sydney Test and young quick Josh Hazlewood says the home side could have a new tactic up their sleeves for Kohli.
“He’s performed very well in Adelaide and Melbourne and scored a lot of runs,” said Hazlewood, who has captured nine wickets at 28.55 in the past two Tests.
“He’s a key wicket for us and I think if we can attack and get him early, everyone else follows suit a bit.
“We’ll try to come up with something for Virat, and I think it’s just a case of being boring, as bad as it sounds, just try to bore him down and keep him on strike, keep the dots flowing, build that pressure and hopefully he’ll crack.”
Hazlewood suggested Australia would seek to use Kohli’s ego against him.
“He likes to score runs and score them pretty freely,” he said.
“If we can tie him down for long periods then we’ll hopefully get a rash shot.”
Brad Haddin locked horns with Kohli on a number of occasions at the MCG, but the veteran gloveman was reluctant to get into an off-field slanging match when asked what India might look like under the 26-year-old’s stewardship.
Kohli skippered India for the first time in the first Test in Adelaide when Dhoni was absent due to an injured thumb.
Australia’s vice-captain said there might be some pointers from that match as to how Kohli will handle things at the SCG.
“I think what happened in Adelaide was we won the big moments,” Haddin said.
“It was a good game and there were some outstanding performances from Kohli and a few of the Indian batsmen but the one thing we did is we won the big moments.
“That’s what you have to do in Test matches. You have to win big moments on skill not emotion, and I think that’s what we did.”
