Steve Smith wants to make Virat Kohli “angry” during Ind-Aus series

12/26/2016

Australia skipper Steve Smith has revealed his plan to make his counterpart Virat Kohli "a little bit angry" when they tour India for a four-match Test series in February. Smith also felt that Australia will be the underdogs in the series given the current Test form of the Indian team.

Steve Smith has hailed Indian captain Virat Kohli saying that the 28-year old has vastly improved as a cricketer and mostly importantly on his emotional side of the game, which is why he wants his Australian teammates to get on Kohli's nerves when they tour India in February.

"He is a very emotional character out on the field, but I think he has improved a lot there. 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. I think if you can get him in that state then the Indian team can possibly be a little bit vulnerable," Smith told IANS on Monday.

He further praised Kohli by saying, "He is a world-class player and he has, obviously, led the Indian team incredibly well over the last 18 months or so. They have won a lot of games in that time and I think they have played a lot of cricket at home in that time as well. I think he has improved a lot body language wise."

Australia had a difficult year touring the sub-continent where they lost 3-0 to Sri Lanka in the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy Test series in July, while India have been in imperious form going 18 matches undefeated in 2016. And the Aussie skipper feels that his team will be the underdogs when they tour India next year.

"We go there in February and, no doubt, it's going to be an incredibly difficult tour -- going to India always is. Four Tests there, it's a great opportunity for this team, where we are going to be the underdogs going there. It would be fantastic to win a series there and we are going to have to make sure our processes are in order and we play a lot better than we have done in sub-continent conditions," the 27-year old said.

The four-match Test series between India and Australia will be played from Feb 23 – 25 March, 2017.