Australia's legendary speedster Glenn McGrath warned Pat Cummins & Co. for targetting Virat Kohli aggressively in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The fast-bowling great reckoned that targeting Kohli could lift him against Australia if he managed to keep his emotions back.
Virat Kohli is currently in Australia practising with the Indian Cricket Team at WACA to get comfortable with the conditions before the first Test which is scheduled to start from November 22.
India has triumphed in their last four Test series against Australia, including two memorable victories on Australian soil. However, they approach the highly awaited five-match series following a 0-3 defeat to New Zealand in a recent home series.
"Without a doubt, especially after coming off a 3-0 loss against New Zealand, you've got plenty of ammunition to back yourself up, Fox Cricket quoted McGrath as saying on 'CODE Sports'.
"So put the pressure on them and see if they're up for it," he added.
And McGrath warned that targeting Kohli aggressively could also lift him, especially if he manages to control his emotions.
"If they go hard at him, if he gets in the fight with emotions, there's a bit of chat out there, who knows he might sort of lift," said the 54-year-old former Australia pacer who took 563 Test wickets from 124 matches between 1993 and 2007.
"But I think he's probably under pressure a little bit, and if he has a couple of low scores to start with, he could really feel it.
"I think he's quite an emotional player. When he's up, he's up, and when he's down, he sort of struggles a little bit," McGrath added.
The upcoming Test series against Australia is important for India to seal their spot in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final in England next year. India needs to register a 4-0 win in the five-match series to feature in the WTC final for the third consecutive time without depending on the other team's outcomes.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 schedule
The series opener between Australia and India is set to begin in Perth from November 22 to 26. Next, the teams will head to Adelaide Oval for the second Test, a Day/Night match scheduled for December 6 to 10. The third Test will take place at The Gabba in Brisbane, running from December 14 to 18. The fourth Test is scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26 to 30, and the series will wrap up with the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7.
India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Travelling reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
