India vs Australia | Ricky Ponting advises Aussie bowlers not to allow Virat Kohli to settle down
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Ricky Ponting has asked the Australian bowlers to stop Virat Kohli from scoring boundaries early in the innings during the Test matches. The legendary Aussie skipper has also added that they have played some excellent cricket at home because of very strong and positive body language.
India will take on Australia in a four-match Test series which is scheduled to start from December 6 in Adelaide and the Indian captain is in focus of the Australians. Kohli had a very good record against them when he last toured Down Under for a Test series in 2014-15 and scored 692 runs at an average of 86.25. Kohli was in a good form in the series in England and also against the Windies at home. He is someone who prefers getting runs freely even in Test matches and former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting wants the bowlers to continue bowling in the
"With someone like him who likes to score freely, he has obviously got a big ego, there are other things you can do. Don't let him score boundaries early on. Try and ball tight consistent stuff. He also likes to run the ball down to
"Another thing I will be doing is going back and looking at who has had the most success against him and why. The first one that comes to mind is James Anderson. He seems to trouble him the most.”
Ponting also spoke about the aggressive intent of the Australian players and said that Kohli is someone who can be rattled very early. He reminded the hostile bowling by Mitchell Johnson where the left-arm pacer had got the better of Kohli on a few occasions. He wants the bowlers not to sit back against Kohli and go into the game with an attacking body language.
"Mitchell Johnson definitely rattled him a few times with some good hostile bowling and some good hostile body language around him. So, I would not sit back and let anyone bully. The way we go about playing cricket, especially at home, it is about good strong body language. That is the way Australians have always played their best," the former Aussie skipper explained.
"Yes, Australian teams of the past have always had few words to say but it was always on the back of some good hostile bowling, you can't do without it. It is rubbish otherwise.
