'Say India Are Chokers...' - Monty Panesar Urges Ben Stokes To Sledge Virat Kohli On India Tour

Apart from his greatness in batting, Indian batsman Virat Kohli is known for aggressive body language on the field. Kohli is always pumped up whenever he is playing for India and also ups the level of the entire team. Virat transformed India’s pace attack during his captaincy days and the Indian bowlers scripted many memorable for the team during Kohli’s captaincy period.

Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the Indian team have not shown that much aggressiveness on the field but their success remains the same as it was under Virat Kohli. India are now all set to take on England in a five-match Test series at home. The series will start on January 25 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

England would tour India after three years under the leadership of captain Ben Stokes. Under Stokes, England have had immense success in the red ball format whereas head coach Brendon McCullum has changed the playing tactics of the team.

While Virat Kohli showed a lot of aggression when he played against England as captain, former England spinner Monty Panesar believes that Ben Stokes should challenge Virat’s ego to do well in the upcoming tour of India. Panesar further added that the England players shall sledge Virat Kohli and call India chokers when it comes to the final. Ben Stokes has won the T20 and the ODI World Cup whereas Virat Kohli has not.

Monty Panesar advises Ben Stokes to sledge Virat Kohli during India tour

Monty Panesar said while speaking to India.com, “Play with his ego and get physiologically stuck into him. They should also say things to him like, you guys are chokers when it comes to the final. They should sledge him on those lines because Stokes has won the ODI and T20 WC and Kohli has not and that is going to mentally pinch him.”

When asked about the bowler who will dismiss Virat Kohli, he responded, “I think it will be James Anderson and I think it will be the reverse-swing that would get Kohli,” he added.

England played their last Test series against Australia in 2023. England lost the first two Tests of the five-match series but came back strong after winning the last two matches and leveled the series. England have set up a camp in Abu Dhabi before the arrival in India and would come to the country three days before the start of the series.

However, the main question that arises here is, will ‘bazball’ work in India or not? ‘Baz’ is the name of England’s head coach Brendon McCullum and he used to bash the opposition bowlers during his playing days for New Zealand. However, the tactics might not work on turning tracks in India.

England faced a 3-1 loss when they toured India last time and fell terribly against the Indian spinners. However, England are the only country who have defeated India in India in a Test series in the last 12 years. India displayed a brilliant performance in their last Test series against South Africa and leveled the series by 1-1. This was India’s best performance in a Test series at the South African land in the last 14 years.

The IND vs ENG five-match series is very important from the World Test Championship 2023-25 point of view, and India would aim to win the series.