Australia have managed to keep Indian run machine Virat Kohli silent during the Tests and One-Day Internationals, but the visitors are well aware of the threat posed by the ever-consistent India captain as Tim Paine revealed that the team talked about stopping the star batsman in the first T20I.
Kohli had entered the Test series after scoring four double centuries in the last four Test series but managed to score only 46 in three Tests. The story remained pretty much similar in the ODIs too where barring a half-century in the second game; the in-form right-handed batsman had a quite series as per his standard.
But despite the success against Kohli, Australia are not taking the star batsman rightly.
“He’s (Kohli) really a good player. Not many teams had much success against him. He’s a huge wicket tomorrow night and in the whole series. We had a brief chat about him in the team meeting last night. I don’t want to get into the details. We certainly have got a couple of plans, we will see how it goes,” Australia wicketkeeper Tim Paine said on the eve of the first T20I in Ranchi.
Paine also said that Steve Smith & Co. would come out firing in the upcoming match.
“India have been playing really good cricket. They are high on confidence. We are going to come out firing tomorrow night,” Paine said.
Speaking about Australia’s batting order which boasts of some of the best T20 players, the wicketkeeper-batsman said:
“We are all lucky to have a flexible batting order. Glenn (Maxwell) has opened the batting in a few T20Is in the sub-continent and has done really well. But (Aaron) Finch and (David) Warner are probably two better T20I openers.”
Paine further expressed his delight over the way his career has turned out. The 32-year old’s international career was looking as good as over before a good show in the Big Bash League saw him getting a recall for the T20I series against Sri Lanka in February this year.
“It’s turned around,” he said. “I was looking to probably retire, I was going to accept a job with Kookabura. I had the opportunity to stay with Tasmania for another couple of years and since then I’ve been picked to play in the T20Is in Sri Lanka and got another opportunity here. It’s turned around quickly and I’m grateful for that.”