Bore him, bounce him and work on his ego: Keys to get Virat Kohli out

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has come up with a three-point strategy to stop Virat Kohli’s amazing run of form. In his column for the

Daily Mail, Hussain heaped praise on the India captain before reminding England that they have five more opportunities to find a way to stop him.

After losing the first ODI by three wickets, England face India in the second ODI in Cuttack on Thursday.

“Perhaps (England captain) Eoin Morgan has to take one side of the field out of the equation, go around the wicket and hide the ball outside off stump while telling his bowlers that he does not mind if they go for the odd wide or two,” wrote Hussain .

“Then they could try to keep him off strike a bit more than they did in Pune on Sunday by allowing the lad at the other end a single off the fifth or sixth ball, or bring the field up to Kohli towards the end of the over to try to make him play a big shot that could lead to his downfall.”

BOUNCER ASSAULT

Like in the past, Hussain again suggested England could try bouncers against Kohli. “An option England may well employ, if conditions dictate, is to bring Liam Plunkett into the side, put three men out and go for the short stuff,” he wrote.

England fast bowler Jake Ball too had said on Tuesday that they are aiming to unsettle Kohli with short balls.

VERBAL VOLLEYS

Hussain also suggested that England could pay Kohli some lip service in order to get under his skin.

“I would also like them to try to get stuck into him a bit verbally because he can have a short fuse. Try to work on his ego, like teams would attempt to do with Kevin Pietersen,” wrote Hussain.

Hussain had recently interviewed Kohli where the India captain admitted to being close to a very few people in his life.

“The India captain is brilliant at reading a match situation, at least when he is batting, and I believe he is the best chaser of a total in one-day history. The man is something special but he’s also human. And England have five more chances on this tour to prove they can come up with a way to stop him.”