The Test series between India and Australia is soon to get underway in a few more days and while many have asked the Australian team to refrain from sledging Virat Kohli, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting comes up with an entirely different point of view.
Ponting suggests that the Australians get under the skin of the Indian captain and try and “rattle” him rather than letting him dictate terms.
India would play a four-match Test series against Australia beginning on December 6 and when asked if the marauding right-hander would provoke the Aussies on the field despite having mellowed down, Ponting said, “Well, he might. I don’t necessarily believe that he is someone you shouldn’t try to get under his skin. I have seen him rattled.
“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,” said Ponting, as quoted by cricket.com.au
“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.”
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It was under Ponting that Australia emerged as one of the most dominant forces in world cricket and the former World Cup-winning captain said that it would be entirely “rubbish” if his countrymen didn’t play with an aggressive mentality.
“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,” he said.
“You have to able to impose yourself on the game in a way other than using your mouth. You got to use your actions and skills.”
India lost the four-match series 0-2 the last time they had visited Australia but Kohli had amassed 692 runs from the series at an average of 86.25 with four hundred.
But Ponting said that he wouldn’t have let Kohli get to a good start had he been the Australian skipper.
“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 bowl tight consistent stuff,” said Ponting.
“He also likes to run the ball down to the third man so maybe play around with guys behind the wicket in different areas, just get inside his head as to what we are trying to do.”
“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,” he added