India vs Australia: To sledge Virat Kohli or not? Josh Hazlewood has his say after Tim Paine’s statement

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Updated: Dec 03, 2018 17:44 IST

Indian captain Virat Kohli has already made it clear that he is not interested in picking up fights in the upcoming Test series against Australia. Kohli, who has been India’s best batsman this year in South Africa and England, will be the key batsman as far as the Australian bowling attack is concerned.

“I see the Indian line up as the best in the world, if not right up there, led by Virat and I think they feed a lot of him and how he goes about things,” Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said.

“They’ve played a lot at home since we played them last in Australia. They toured England and South Africa, and it was only Virat who stood out. A lot of the other haven’t scored too many of the runs,” he added.

The tall fast-bowler also said that they will discuss ways and means to get him out and try out a couple of options. On the issue of sledging the Indian captain, Hazlewood said that it depended on the individual and how words played a part in his game.

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“Virat obviously thrives on that sort of stuff. It gets him going and he probably plays his best cricket when he’s doing that. It’s up to the individual - if it’s a bowler or a fielder. I am usually pretty quiet when I am bowling,” the New South Welshman said.

These words come a day after captain Tim Paine asked his players to have a word or two with Kohli if the need be.

“We’ll just play it by ear; if there’s a time when we think we need to have a word with him, I’m sure we will. If there’s other times when we feel like we’re bowling well against him and are troubling him, then you don’t have to do it,” Paine told reporters.