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Our Pacers Have Skills to Trouble Kohli: Paine

Written by Vishwas Gupta

Australia has enough firepower in their pace attack to “trouble” India’s talismanic captain Virat Kohli, believes skipper Tim Paine, who urged his seamers to not get too “emotional” during the four-Test series starting at Adelaide on December 6.

“I think our fast bowling attack if they play purely on skill, they’re going to trouble him,” Paine told cricket.com.au.

“At times when we get too emotional, we can lose our way a little bit. So it’s a really fine line.

“There’s going to be times when they’re going to get a bit fiery, I’m sure. But we need to be mindful of keeping ourselves calm enough so we can execute our skills as well,” he added.

There has been a lot of talk about changing the team culture of the Australian team following the year-long ball-tampering bans on Steve Smith and David Warner.

Paine said a one-on-one contest with Kohli is okay as long as it doesn’t go over the top.

“I think it’s important that guys play the way that suits them. If you’re someone who likes to get into a contest one-on-one with someone like Virat, then go for your life,” he said.

“But I don’t think it needs to be over the top and I don’t think guys who aren’t normally like that need to start doing it.”

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Vishwas Gupta