King Kohli and his boys are ready for the Australia litmus test
- Smith must remember that in the last 10 years, Australia have played 10 Tests and they have ended up losing up eight and drawn the rest.
- India have won 17 out of their last 20 Test matches at home and the rest of them have been draws.
- Smith has revealed that they do have plans for Kohli but they cannot afford to focus only on one batsman.
FollowThe most-awaited Test series of the Indian home season is here – Its Kohli and co. VS the might Australians led by an equally dynamic skipper Steven Smith! In the last 18 months or so, Kohli (as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team) has hardly put a foot wrong.
But he will be up against one of his most “favourite” rivals and if one takes a walk down the memory lane, it will not be much difficult to figure out that the Indian skipper has been involved in on-field spats with Mitchell Johnson, David Warner and Smith himself.
India have outclassed Kane Williamson’s New Zealand; Ousted Alastair Cook’s England and trounced Bangladesh recently. Now it is time for the litmus test – as the first Test of the four-match series starts on Thursday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
However, Smith must remember that in the last 10 years, Australia have played 10 Tests and they have ended up losing up eight and drawn the rest. But this is the battle of the bests in business. Australians are going to leave no stones unturned to stop the run-machine Kohli. They know how destructive he can be with his piece of willow.
Smith has revealed that they do have plans for Kohli but they cannot afford to focus only on one batsman as other Indian batsmen have also been in very good form apart from KL Rahul. Former Australian batsman Michael Hussey has even urged the players in the baggy green not to sledge Kohli in India. This might just incite Kohli to achieve more milestones in his already-majestic career.
Moreover, India have won 17 out of their last 20 Test matches at home and the rest of them have been draws. Thus the dominant host will look to extend their winning streak and finish the home season on a high.
Kohli and co. are surely not oblivious to the fact that Warner, Smith and Mitchell Starc do pose a serious threat for the host. The previous opponents did not capitalise on certain situations where they could have been right on top of things but Australians are known for doing exactly the opposite. They are in fact extremely combustible in such situations.
The spin threat is there for sure the Australian batsmen. Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav are going to give them a hard time on slow and low surfaces in India. But the Aussies are certainly aware of this fact.
All in all, this is surely going to be a cracker of a series!
