Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has stated that he and the rest of his teammates prefer staying away from running into Virat Kohli while he’s batting. During the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Kohli had his run-ins with Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith and others; however, there was no such face-offs seen during India’s Test series against Australia in 2018-19 which they won 2-1.
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Hazlewood, who has bowled to Kohli on numerous occasions, understands that trying to get inside the Indian captain’s skin or rile him up may not be the best solution. “I think we try to probably stay clear of engagement, obviously,” Hazlewood said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
“I think that was fully evident throughout the series. I think he likes to get in that tussle and it probably brings out the best in him, especially when he’s batting, that was always a no-go-zone for the bowlers.”
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India are scheduled to tour Australia later this year. They will begin the tour with a three T20I series followed by a four-Test series. With Kohli expected to be a crucial factor behind India’s campaign, Hazlewood has said that he and the rest of his Australian teammates would prefer avoid any confrontation and try to stay clear of any verbal duals that may bring the best out of the Indian captain.
{{/usCountry}}India are scheduled to tour Australia later this year. They will begin the tour with a three T20I series followed by a four-Test series. With Kohli expected to be a crucial factor behind India’s campaign, Hazlewood has said that he and the rest of his Australian teammates would prefer avoid any confrontation and try to stay clear of any verbal duals that may bring the best out of the Indian captain.
{{/usCountry}}“I think it’s a different case if the guys are batting and he’s in the field, you know they can get him engaged there and sort of work him out a little bit if possible, but certainly when he was batting, it was just leaving him to his own devices, and hopefully, we get him in a bit of a switched off mood and take advantage of that,” Hazlewood explained.