Virat Kohli will be at the centre of attention of Australia’s plans as the two teams approach the WTC Final 2023. With less than a week away from the tournament, Australian bowlers, captain and coach will be devising Plan A, B, and C to stop India’s run-machine that has dominated them for the past decade and more.
The 34-year-old is back to his best, having creamed centuries in all formats in the past few months and comes into the WTC Final with back-to-back hundreds in the IPL.
Another plan that the Aussies would be keen in using would be to sledge Virat Kohli right from the onset of his innings and not let him settle down mentally at The Oval. That could, however, also backfire on the Australians as Kohli loves a verbal battle and in the past, he’s come out all guns blazing with the bat when challenged with some verbal vollies.
These 2 Australian players might sledge Virat Kohli in the WTC Final:
David Warner
Despite his redefined good, jolly, entertaining man image in recent years, David Warner remained a hound who wouldn’t want to give any inch to the opposition. He perhaps wouldn’t mind doing the dirty work of sledging Virat Kohli come the WTC Final in London.
Warner and Kohli already have a history in Australia when the two went toe-to-toe with some harsh sledges against each other, trying to teach a lesson to one another. It won’t be a surprise if David Warner is the first Australian to have a go at Virat Kohli with his verbal assaults when Kohli comes out to bat.
Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc doesn’t seem to be want to be a nice boy either on the field like Pat Cummins or Steve Smith. Starc loves a challenge, be it with his cricketing skillset or taking down the opposition batter with his words. And who better batter in the Indian team to take down than they lynchpin, Virat Kohli.
Starc has been known to rile up some batters when the get set in order to break their concentration and prize out their wicket. It is totally possible that if Kohli settled down in his zone, and when Starc comes back to a spell with the old ball looking for some reverse, the left-arm seamer might have a few words to say to India’s talisman batter.
