Aakash Chopra believes that Australia will have to dismiss Virat Kohli early to keep him quiet in the upcoming tour. The Indian captain in his career has always liked the challenge of dominating Australia away from home. The 32-year-old has so far smashed 9 international centuries against Australia in their backyard and will again be a huge wicket for the hosts.
Popular commentator Aakash Chopra has now revealed the possible tactics Australia may employ to dismiss Kohli. The Indian skipper will be featuring in the 3 match ODI and T20I series as well as the historic day and night Test at Adelaide.
Australia Will Have To Execute Their Plans Against Kohli – Aakash Chopra
Chopra pointed out that the margin of error is minimal while bowling to a batsman like Kohli. He added that Australia needs to plan well for Kohli and should be focused on executing them when he comes out to bat. At times Kohli has been vulnerable against the line outside off stump and Aakash Chopra feels that the Aussie will again look to target that especially in the Test match.
“All these are not bad tactics and the fact is that if you are bowling against Kohli, you need some plans. But planning is one thing, execution of those plans is quite another. Also, we are talking about One-Day cricket here. As for Tests, he is just playing one match, which is still a month away. But when you are looking at white-ball cricket, you can always plan bowling wide; but how wide can you bowl actually?”.
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If you are bowling too wide, it will be wide. If you are bowling within the stumps, he will be clipping you for boundaries, throughout. As a leg spinner, you will try, but this window of opportunity in a one-day contest or a T20 contest is very short. And if you don’t capitalise on it and you don’t dismiss Virat Kohli, then these plans won’t really matter; no matter how good the execution is,” Aakash Chopra told Times Now.
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra continued that Australia will have to flexible with their plans against Kohli in the white ball series. The Australian bowlers will have to try different things depending upon the stage of the match in ODI and T20I series.
When it comes to the Test match, Chopra reckons that Australia will bowl wide and also target the stumps of Kohli.
“In theory, all these things are fantastic. In Tests, you would go on with these tactics for a considerable amount of time. But when you talk about one-day and T20 cricket, there is hardly any time. A lot of time your response also depends on how the game is evolving. If India have got off to a flyer, then you’ll go defensive a little too soon. You won’t think of dismissing Kohli, you will only think of restricting him”.
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“Those things will matter but I see more of this in the first Test match – the day-night game at Adelaide. That is where you would actually do that. You bowl wide, you bowl straight, get on your leg-spinner… but will there be a leg-spinner? We don’t know. Maybe just Nathan Lyon and three fast bowlers. We will cross that bridge when we come to it but for one-day and T20s, I think these are plans. It may succeed a couple of times. But it means in a six-match series comprising three ODIs and three T20Is, he will still score four times”, Aakash Chopra concluded.
