Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes Virat Kohli will be on for the four-match Test series against Australia, starting in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9.
Kohli’s form and recent record are highly scrutinized before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus Australia. The 33-year-old last made a Test hundred in November 2019 against Bangladesh and averaged 26.50 in six Tests last year, with one fifty.
Taylor told Wide World of Sports that Kohli’s loss will be huge for Australia, which should motivate him. He explained:
“India’s and Australia’s hopes depend on Virat Kohli. He thinks Virat is inspired by his cricket, and he’ll regard this series as big for India. He’ll be focused, making his wicket crucial for Australia.”
The right-handed batter averages just around 30 versus Australia at home. He averaged 9.46 in three Tests on Australia’s 2016-17 India tour.
Mark Taylor says bowling in India requires “attacking the stumps to a certain degree.”
The 58-year-old said Australia must keep the former Indian captain quiet to keep the fans out of the game:
“If Australia can contain Virat Kohli, it will also keep the Indian crowd out of the game. If the surfaces are flat, they need to assault the stumps to get bowled and lbw.”
Australia won the Nagpur Test’s toss and chose to bat first.
