Not going to sledge Kohli, says Glenn Maxwell

02/15/2017

Glenn Maxwell has asserted that he is not going to sledge Virat Kohli as it would be futile to ruffle him up given the kind of form he is in currently. While Maxwell praised the Indian captain's current form, he rejected the notion that it had anything to do with a different sort of technique.

Australia captain Steve Smith had, earlier, given his players the go-ahead to sledge during the four-match Test series against India, if it helped them improve their own game. But teammate Glenn Maxwell has said that sledging would not prove to be too fruitful against the Indian captain.

"I'm probably not going to say anything to him (Virat Kohli), that's for sure," Maxwell told cricket.com.au.

"Virat is up and down, I suppose, with sledging. If you (strike) a chord with him, or something gets him agitated to play a big shot, then blokes are more than welcome to go for it. But at the moment, there's not much agitating him.

"I think Steve (Smith, Australia captain) said it perfectly in the press conference yesterday – the guys that want to get involved verbally, if that gets the best out of them then go for it," he added.

Kohli has been in inspired form since last year and recently became the first player in history to score a double century in four consecutive series. However, Maxwell has attributed Kohli's success to being in top form rather than a change in technique.

"He's been extremely consistent and he's gone on to score big hundreds, which is something he didn't do very much in the early part of his career but now he's making big double-hundreds and really winning the game for India," added Maxwell.

"I don't think it's anything particular as far as technique or anything like that, I just think he's so on top of his game at the moment."

"Guys can go through a run of form like that where they just get on a roll and everything seems to click for them, and that's happened for him at the moment," he said.

Maxwell also hoped that the inevitable dip in Kohli's form would happen during the upcoming series.

"The thing with that is it can take only one bit of bad luck or an unfortunate dismissal where he's run out or something, and that can sometimes trigger a little bit of indecision or doubt.

"So hopefully in the first couple of Tests we can create that doubt and get him wondering about his technique," he hoped.

Australia will start their four-match Test series in Pune on February 23.