AUSSIE Test great Rodney Hogg says the pressure on underperforming Virat Kohli will force the Indian captain to put his own needs ahead of teammates in the third Test in Ranchi, beginning Thursday.

Despite images of the Ranchi pitch being described as a “the worst pitch of the series so far,” Hogg says Kohli will have demanded the Ranchi deck curators keep enough in the surface for batsmen to feel comfortable at the crease.

There have been widespread reports of the doctored Ranchi deck being designed by Indian cricket officials to blunt the impact of Aussie quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

Cricket commentators have declared the cracking dustbowl wicket will be lucky to see a fourth day of play.

Hogg said that is actually the last thing Kohli personally wants, as the Indian star feels the heat after scores of 0, 13, 12 and 15 this series.

His Test average has dropped below 50 to 49.90 and he’s fallen off the top perch on the ICC’s Test batting rankings to the No. 4 spot.

Former fast bowler Hogg says Kohli’s desire for runs will have prompted him to approach Ranchi ground staff for some assistance, despite the trade-off a more-friendly batting pitch will also benefit Australia’s batsmen.

“He’s a megastar and his average has now gone below 50,” Hogg told SEN’s The Run Home on Tuesday.

“The lights go off when a batsman’s average goes below 50. They get paranoid. All the great batsmen, Michael Clarke ended up under 50, Steve Waugh just went under 50 near the end. He (Kohli) is starting to panic.”

Hogg said Australia needs to play allrounder Glenn Maxwell rather than Usman Khawaja in the No. 6 spot because of the threat of having to spend long days in the field bowling a mountain of overs on a flat, lifeless pitch.

“You will get a good batting wicket,” he predicted.

“We’ve had two wickets that have favoured bowling, so you haven’t had to worry about a lot of overs.

“But you get a flat wicket in India you’ve got to churn out 120 to 140 overs, if you’ve only got four bowlers you’re in mega trouble, so you need to play the fifth bowler.”

Meanwhile, Indian coach Anil Kumble said there will be no attempt to curb his players’ aggression towards Australia in the third Test.

It comes after Kohli was repeatedly warned about his overly-aggressive attitude towards the tourists and the umpires during the second Test.

“I don’t want to curb any natural instinct of the players as long as they go out there and do what is expected of them,” he said.

“I don’t think we need to read too much into the aggression. Every player has his own way of having a game face. And that’s what you want. You want everyone to go out there and show what they are capable of.

“This is a very important series. It’s 1-1. Both teams will come hard in this game. I’m sure cricket will be the winner.”