Apart from his batting greatness, Indian batsman Virat Kohli is known for his aggressive body language on the field. Kohli is always excited when he plays for India and also raises the level of the entire team. Virat transformed India’s pace attack during his captaincy days and the Indian bowlers wrote many memorable scripts for the team during Kohli’s captaincy period.
Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the Indian team has not shown much aggression on the field, but their success remains the same as under Virat Kohli. India is now set to take on England in a five-match Test series at home. The series will begin on January 25 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
England would tour India after three years under the leadership of captain Ben Stokes. Under Stokes, England have had immense success in the red ball format, while coach Brendon McCullum has changed the team’s playing tactics.
While Virat Kohli showed a lot of aggression when he played against England as captain, former England player Monty Panesar believes that Ben Stokes should challenge Virat’s ego to do well in the upcoming tour of India. Panesar further added that England players will sledge Virat Kohli and call India chokers come the final. Ben Stokes won the T20 and ODI World Cup, while Virat Kohli did not.
Monty Panesar advises Ben Stokes to sledge Virat Kohli during India tour
Monty Panesar said while talking to India.com, “Play to his ego and get stuck in it physiologically. They should also tell him things like, you guys are chokers when it comes to the finals. They should take him in that direction because Stokes won the ODI and the T20 WC and Kohli didn’t and that is going to affect him mentally.”
When asked about the bowler who will dismiss Virat Kohli, he replied, “I think it will be James Anderson and I think it will be the reverse swing that will catch Kohli,” he added.
England played their last Test series against Australia in 2023. England lost the first two Tests of the five-match series but bounced back strongly after winning the last two matches and leveled the series. England set up camp in Abu Dhabi before their arrival in India and would arrive in the country three days before the start of the series.
However, the main question that arises here is, will ‘bazball’ work in India or not? ‘Baz’ is the name of England head coach Brendon McCullum and he used to hit opposing bowlers during his playing days with New Zealand. However, the tactics may not work to turn the tracks in India.
England faced a 3-1 defeat when they toured India last time and fell terribly against the Indian spinners. However, England is the only country to have defeated India in a Test series in the last 12 years. India showed a brilliant performance in their last test series against South Africa and leveled the series 1-1. This was India’s best performance in a Test series on South African soil in the last 14 years.
The five-match IND vs ENG series is very important from the point of view of the World Test Championship 2023-25, and India would aim to win the series.