Stand-in India cricket team captain Virat Kohli has reportedly warned stereotypical Australian sledging and claimed that they are there to play the brand of cricket that the hosts play.
The Indian captaincy would embolden Kohli as Border-Gavaskar series tensions escalated less than 24 hours after the visitors' arrival.
Kohli believes that India needs to adopt a power mindset against Australia and its spearhead Mitchell Johnson to avoid a repeat of the 4-0 whitewash there three years ago.
Test seamer Peter Siddle fired the first salvo in mind games saying Kohli would be daunted by his audition as skipper in the Brisbane series opener with Mahendra Singh Dhoni injured, News.com.au reported.
Kohli said of Siddle that he has played against the seamer and he is quite a competitive guy so he added that he is not surprised the banter is starting from that end. He said that he is there to experience this new stage, captaining in the Test format and he is pretty confident in the abilities of the guys he has.
Legendary keeper Adam Gilchrist has already revealed that leading India in Australia could mark the start of the Kohli legend and a rise to the world's premier player.
Confidence has been never been an issue for the middle order batsman who rakes in an estimated 30 million dollars annually and was fined for an offensive hand gesture during the 2012 New Year's Test at the SCG.
Kohli, who had never experienced such an aggressive atmosphere in making his maiden Test ton, 116, against Australia in Adelaide three years ago, said that he loves leading the side.
Kohli said that he doesn't see any issues why he can't be up to the challenge and as long as the team backs him and puts in the performances they want he believes he would look good at the end of the day. Kohli has already ordered his men to fight fire with fire in the Border-Gavaskar series defence. India would lose the respect of Australia without delivering a venomous riposte to any bullying.
Kohli claimed that they are there to play aggressive cricket, play the brand of cricket that Australia plays.
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