Mumbai: Australia captain Steve Smith may have given his players the permission to go for lip service if it helps them to raise their game during the upcoming India-Australia Test series. But when it comes to sledging India skipper Virat Kohli, Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has other ideas.
"I'm probably not going to say anything to him (Virat Kohli), that's for sure," said Maxwell to cricket.com.au.
Maxwell has played against Kohli for long in the Indian Premier League and in 21 international matches across all formats.
"Virat is up and down, I suppose, with sledging. If you (strike) a chord with him, or something gets him agitated to play a big shot, then blokes are more than welcome to go for it. But at the moment, there's not much agitating him,” added Maxwell.
"I think Steve (Smith, Australia captain) said it perfectly in the press conference yesterday – the guys that want to get involved verbally, if that gets the best out of them then go for it."
Kohli recently created a world record by becoming the first batsman to score double tons in four consecutive Test series. Maxwell admitted that the Indian batsman is on the top of his game, but the visitors will try to make it uncomfortable for him.
"I don't think it's anything particular as far as technique or anything like that, I just think he's so on top of his game at the moment," Maxwell said
"Guys can go through a run of form like that where they just get on a roll and everything seems to click for them, and that's happened for him at the moment.
"The thing with that is it can take only one bit of bad luck or an unfortunate dismissal where he's run out or something, and that can sometimes trigger a little bit of indecision or doubt.
"So hopefully in the first couple of Tests we can create that doubt and get him wondering about his technique.
The explosive batsman was full of praise for the Delhi cricketer and said the he’s transformed into a match-winner for India.
"We've obviously been watching him play over the last few months and just admired the way that he's gone about it.
"He's been extremely consistent and he's gone on to score big hundreds, which is something he didn't do very much in the early part of his career but now he's making big double-hundreds and really winning the game for India," concluded Maxwell.
