Steve Waugh wants Australians to fire up Virat Kohli only when he starts scoring
What’s the story?
Former World Cup winning captain Steve Waugh wants the Australians to ruffle Virat Kohli up a bit with words when he gets going in the upcoming Test series.
"I wouldn’t recommend firing him up to start with, maybe that’s something you keep up your sleeve if he starts to score runs," Waugh told the Cricket Australia recently.
"Like anyone, he’s vulnerable. "He’s under pressure.”
"He’s got that massive weight of expectation on his shoulders. They (the Indian public) expect him to get a hundred every time he goes out to bat now, and he pretty much does. But there are going to be times when he has a bit of luck go against him, play a bad shot, loses concentration, maybe thinks too much about what he should be doing in the future not what he’s doing right now.”
In case you did not know
Waugh was one of those Australian cricketers who never shied away from an on-field confrontation. He once famously bowled three consecutive bouncers to West Indies legend Vivian Richards. And then clashed with fast bowler Curtly Ambrose where Waugh sledged the mighty Antiguan.
Against top sides like England and South Africa, Waugh took it on himself to give the batsmen or the bowlers an earful whenever they failed to do their job right and believes the same tactics could be used against Kohli to soften him up.
The heart of the matter
The Indian captain has been in scintillating form of late in Test cricket. He has scored four double hundreds in four consecutive series and is looking to continue the same run of form against the Australians.
Unless the Australians come up with a plan to get rid of Kohli early, they could end up losing the series 4-0. Therefore Waugh has suggested that when Kohli gets going a few fiery words might just get him to lose his concentration and cause his downfall.
What’s next?
It will be interesting to see if the Australians do take Waugh’s advice and try to use it against Kohli. However, the ploy can backfire on them just like it did when India toured Australia last time and Mitchell Johnson paid the price for being too chirpy.
Kohli made sure he was at his fiercest best against the left-arm pacer and even though India lost the series Johnson had no choice but to appreciate Kohli’s efforts.
Sportskeeda’s take
With the kind of form Kohli is in it might get difficult for the Australians to get him out cheaply and therefore Waugh’s advice isn’t such a bad one to try on the Indian skipper.