Ahead of India’s much-awaited tour to Australia, South African skipper Faf du Plessis has a tip for Australia on how to handle Indian captain Virat Kohli.
Faf du Plessis said on Friday the best way to keep Virat Kohli quiet was to avoid confrontation and give a “silent treatment”.
Du Plessis also said during India’s tour to South Africa earlier this year, his side gave Kohli the “silent treatment” in an attempt to keep him quiet.
“There are guys like that in international cricket (who enjoy the confrontation). We feel like that when we play against someone like Virat Kohli, he wants to get into the fight,” Du Plessis said.
South Africa had beaten India 2-1 in the three-match Test series despite Virat Kohli’s heroics with bats. Kohli also emerged as the top run-getter in Test series against the rainbow nation with an aggregate of 286 at an average of 47.66.
“There’s one or two guys in each team around the world that we as a team discuss before playing against them. We’re like, ‘better not say too much to him because you’ll get him going’,” Faf du Plessis added.
Virat Kohli has been in terrific form with the bats in the ongoing calendar year. Virat Kohli, who also holds the number one spot in ICC Test ranking, notched up 593 runs against England in the five-match series.
Recently, Virat Kohli also became first Indian cricketer to score three back-to-back hundreds in ODI against the West Indies.
Du Plessis also heaped praises on Virat Kohli. “He’s an amazing player. We gave him the silent treatment and he still scored runs in South Africa, but we felt like it was not huge runs – he scored the one hundred there in Centurion when the wicket was slow.”
“So every team will have what they think works – for us, that was silent treatment.”