Would be surprised if Virat Kohli doesn’t engage in verbal barrage: Pat Cummins

Virat Kohli’s call for an ‘altercation-free series’ has led Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins to take a jibe at the Indian skipper, saying it would be surprising if he didn’t engage in verbal warfare.

“I think I heard him say in the media the other day he won’t, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t,” said Cummins, as quoted by Fairfax Media.

“He’s so competitive, he really thrives on that.

“We’ll hold our ground, we’re going to be competitive and all those things. We wouldn’t treat him differently to any others. I think you’ll see a lot of passion from both sides but nothing super fiery like we saw against India a couple of years ago,” added the speedster.

India and Australia have had their fair amount of bad blood in recent times during bilateral series. The past two series have had a lot of bust-ups between both these sides–the most recent one being then Aussie skipper Steve Smith looking to the dressing room for help while referring to a DRS call in a Test in Bengaluru.

Also read: Mitchell Johnson aims a dig at Virat Kohli’s ‘no altercation’ comment

Kohli seemed unforgivable as he said that this wasn’t the first time Smith had tried to cheat in a match, despite the latter apologising for what commonly came to be known as the “brain fade moment.”

Cummins added, “It might be something to talk about once we get the Test squad together, and talk about how we want to play and our plans for individual batsmen.”

“To be honest, I do what works best for me. It’s getting myself fired up or getting myself focused, it’s more getting the best out of myself than trying to put a batsman off or anything.”

India would take on Australia in a tour that would comprise of four Tests, three ODIs and the same number of T20Is.

Image credit-(Pat Cummins)-Courier Mail

Image credit- (Virat Kohli)- NDTV Sports