Kohli has a big ego: Ponting
Published on: Dec 3, 2018 9:24 pm IST|Updated on: Dec 3, 2018 10:02 pm IST
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has given advice to the Australian team to negate the threat of Indian captain Virat Kohli. He believes that Kohli can be rattled and he has a big ego and likes to score freely. So he feels that by bowling tight stuff in the beginning, Australia can trouble him.
Ponting’s gameplan for Kohli
The former Australia cricketer explained the strategy to keep Kohli quiet. He believes that if the ball is not moving, then Kohli is going to be really hard to get out. With someone like him who likes to score freely, Ponting believes that Kohli is obviously got a big ego but there’s other things Australia can do.
He noted that Australia can put a few fielders out early on, don’t let him get any boundaries. Maybe don’t go as aggressive at him early on and try to bowl lots of tight, consistent stuff.
Go back and look who had success against Kohli in past: Ponting
Ponting stated that the first thing he would be doing is going back and looking at how anyone has stopped the Indian skipper in the past and who has had the most success against Virat and why.
According to Ponting the first one that comes to mind is someone like a James Anderson, who probably had the most success against him. From what he has watched over the years, Ponting feels that Anderson seems to trouble him the most.
Most Runs in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tournaments among the current players:
1. Steve Smith – 1429 in 20 Inns
2. Virat Kohli – 1322 in 27 Inns
3. Murali Vijay – 1275 in 24 Inns
4. Che Pujara – 1101 in 22 Inns
5. David Warner – 1081 in 30 Inns#StatsIndeed #AUSvIND— CricIndeed (@CricIndeed) December 1, 2018
Don’t allow anyone to bully at home: Ponting
At the same time, Ponting noted he doesn’t necessarily believe that you shouldn’t try to get under Kohli’s skin.
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He recalled that Mitchell Johnson definitely rattled him a few times with some good, hostile bowling and some good, hostile body language around him.
So he feels Australia shouldn’t sit back and let anyone bully the way they go about playing their cricket, especially at home.