5 bowlers who can neutralize Virat Kohli

The best in the generation debate is slowly coming to a close these days with Virat Kohli escalating himself to all new levels where only he exists. His nearest competitors are all on different paths now. AB de Villiers bid adieu to the game, Steve Smith is serving a one-year punishment, Joe Root and Kane Williamson are scoring, but not as big as Kohli. In the last five years, the Indian skipper, across all formats, has worked on several of his flaws quite relentlessly to be the superhuman batter he is right now.

Against the pacers or spinners, King Kohli has been reigning supreme in every battle. This brings us to a question if at all any bowler has the grit and mastery to outclass Kohli. Although there are some stupendous bowlers in the fraternity right now, the Indian batting maestro has managed to get the better of most of them. But still there are a few bowlers who can give him a tough time and here’s a list of five such bowlers.

1. Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc at his best didn’t get a lot of chances to bowl at Virat Kohli, but when the left-arm pacer is in full flow, he can stop any batsman in the world. The very reason why Rabada can stop Kohli is the same why Starc has an advantage, the extra pace added with consistency to hit the right areas.

Last time India visited Australia, Mitchell Johnson managed to dismiss Kohli on three occasions. Whilst Kohli feasted on other bowlers, Lyon and Johnson did manage to control him on occasions. Starc and Johnson are pretty similar with the way they attack batsmen and if the 28-year-old can dig in a little on what Johnson did the last time, that could be one helpful tutorial.

One thing Starc does better than most is hit the fourth stump line at a good length consistently. Its very hard at his pace to get hold of that length and he might even adjust the line a little towards the fifth stump, teasing him to go for a drive. It’s very hard to think of ways to undo Kohli at this point in time, but the Aussies certainly will be well prepared.

2. Rashid Khan

Arguably one of the best limited-overs bowlers in recent times, Rashid Khan has had a wonderful 2018. His side made its Test debut against India and their performance in the Asia Cup was hailed by everyone. The canny leg-spinner can operate in tricky ways, which on occasions can be good enough to get Kohli.

He bowls with a quick run-up and action, not giving a lot of time for the batters to read the finger movement. In the IPL, Rashid got the wicket of the RCB captain off a googly on a flat deck in Bangalore and in the few occasions both these cricketers faced off, the Afghan clearly troubled him more than one time.

In the Tests, we are yet to see Rashid’s best but in the limited-overs cricket, the 20-year-old is certainly a threat. In the upcoming World Cup, Afghanistan will be keen to throw everything at it to make a mark and it will be interesting to see if the best of Rashid can get the better of Kohli.

3. Mohammad Abbas

Mohammad Abbas has the best bowling average among all the cricketers right now with over 50 Test wickets. The Pakistani was stellar against Australia and will be licking his fingers to get a chance to bowl at Kohli. The 28-year-old from Sialkot is quick and consistent, which can be good enough to trouble anyone in the cricketing world.

Abbas’ unique bowling action helps him purchase something from the track and we have seen often how the ball skids back into the right-handers. He keeps it tight and prefers to keep it a little short of the length, but can surprise the batsmen with a sharp yorker.

Kohli managed to boss over some other hyped Pakistani bowlers like Umar Gul and Mohammad Amir, but that won’t be easy against Abbas. He will keep testing the best batsman in the world with canny length variations. Although the chances of India and Pakistan playing a Test match are very grim, if ever they do, this battle will be a blockbuster.

4. Kagiso Rabada

One of the stalwarts in the current Australia setup, Kagiso Rabada is the fiercest and most lethal pacer in world cricket right now. He can crank it up big time with his pace and the odd deadly bouncer that he releases has been getting the better of many cricketers in recent times.

In the Test series between these sides earlier this year, he managed to scalp Kohli’s wicket only once, but the batsman did have some trouble combating Rabada. He is only going to get better in the time to come and their duel in the World Cup next year might end up being quite an iconic one.

5. Nathan Lyon

It might surprise a lot of people to see a non-Asian spinner in this list, but records suggest Nathan Lyon has a great chance of getting Kohli out. The world is not oblivious to Lyon going around the stump to right-handers, trying to confuse them with the odd arm ball. This strategy, in the past, has worked tremendously against Kohli.

In 2017 when Australia visited, Lyon managed to trouble Kohli big time and even dismissed him once in Bangalore. But the offie was at his best against the Indian captain in the 2014/15 series, where he managed to dismiss him once but also managed to make his life difficult at the crease.

Not just for Kohli, he will be a trouble for the whole team as he was the highest wicket-taker when India traveled Down Under last time with 23 scalps. The 30-year-old will pose a very different challenge when compared to the rest and will Kohli and company have a reply to that will be the big question.

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