The refuelling started with Australia captain Steve Smith saying that the hosts will be under a burden of pressure going into the second Test to live up to their pre-series expectations
Enough of being straightforward and nice. It's back to the mind games.
After a bit of lull surrounding the first Test in Pune, India and Australia have refuelled the off field verbal tank that is such a big part of any Test series between these two teams.
The refuelling started with Australia captain Steve Smith saying that the hosts will be under a burden of pressure going into the second Test to live up to their pre-series expectations. This coming from a man who had labelled his team as underdogs before the first Test.
"I think they will feel under a little bit of pressure," Smith said on Friday. "Obviously, going into this series, all I heard was 4-0 to them. They're one down and need to come back."
The 27-year-old played his part in upping the pressure levels on the Indians as well, adding that his team was just a couple of great sessions away from making sure that they don't lose the series and thereby retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"We're one win away from (retaining) the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Things can happen pretty quickly here. So we might be one or two sessions away from getting that back. I'm sure they'll feel under a bit of pressure," he said.
But his Indian counterpart is probably the last one to fall for these kind of tactics.
"Who me? As a team? Does it look like?" Kohli shot back when asked if there was a cloud of pressure over his team's head.
A flash of smile followed, and so did the rebuttal.
"I am pretty relaxed, I am happy, I am smiling. Those are his (Smith) views and (he can say) whatever he wants to say. I think it's time we focus on our skills more than what Australia is saying or preparing like. I know these minds games in these press conferences are something they're very good at," Kohli said.
And oh, there was one last shot of warning as well.
"We're still going to play the cricket that we've played in the last two years and see where the series ends in the fourth game," Kohli said.
Can't wait, isn't it?
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