IND vs AUS: Glenn McGrath shares tactics to defeat ’emotional’ Virat Kohli

Former pacer Glenn McGrath believes that Australia have the required weapons to strike blows at an emotional Virat Kohli, who could be under pressure if he starts the coming Border-Gavaskar Trophy poorly.

“Without a doubt, especially after coming off a 3-0 loss against New Zealand, you’ve got plenty of ammunition to back yourself up,” Fox Cricket quoted McGrath as saying on ‘CODE Sports’.

Tendulkar ☑️

Ganguly ☑️

Laxman ☑️

Glenn McGrath’s superb opening spell of 7-3-5-3

His final figures were 10-4-8-4 Consistently bowling outside the off stump line which produced 53 dot balls

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“So put the pressure on them and see if they’re up for it,” he added.

Kohli has been India’s batting mainstay for over a decade, but he has struck only two tons in the longest format in the last five years. Shubman Gill is out of contention for the first Test and Rohit Sharma is under doubt as well. KL Rahu too picked up a knock in the nets.

However, the 36-year-old has a penchant of eking out his best in Australia. Kohli has an impressive average of 54.08 in the four Australia tours he has been a part of.

Same shot different result #AUSvsPAK #ViratKohli???? pic.twitter.com/X6MRHaMNek

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And McGrath warned that targeting Kohli aggressively could also lift him, especially if he manages to keep his emotions in check.

“If they go hard at him, if he gets in the fight with emotions, there’s a bit of chat out there, who knows he might sort of lift,” said the 54-year-old former Australia pacer who took 563 Test wickets from 124 matches between 1993 and 2007.

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“But I think he’s probably under pressure a little bit, and if he has a couple of low scores to start with, he could really feel it.

“I think he’s quite an emotional player. When he’s up, he’s up, and when he’s down, he sort of struggles a little bit,” McGrath added.

(With PTI inputs)