England pacer Ollie Robinson opened up on his battle against Virat Kohli ahead of the mega five-match Test series against India starting January 25. Robinson has a sensational bowling record against India in red-ball cricket with 21 scalps in four matches which include a couple of five-wicket hauls. Meanwhile, it will be Robinson’s first tour of India and it won’t be easy for him to replicate his past performances against the Asian giants as they are expected to play on the spin-friendly tracks.
Robinson dismissed Virat Kohli thrice in England and he is again looking forward to challenging the Indian great’s “ego”.
“You always want to play against the best players, don’t you? And you always want to get the best players out. Kohli is one of those. He’s got a big ego and I think playing on that, especially in India, where he is going to want to dominate and score runs, playing on the fact we’ve had battles in the past, is exciting,” Robinson told ESPNCricinfo.
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For him, a successful tour of India might catapult him into a different league.
“If I can have a big tour in India, then it should set me up for a while. If I do well, I can cement myself back in the team,” he added.
The five-match series will be crucial for the hosts in the World Test Championship as England will pose a difficult challenge for them with their Bazball approach.
Virat Kohli has also been in good form in recent times and played crucial knocks in India’s last test series against South Africa in tricky batting conditions. He has returned to the top 10 rankings in Test cricket and is currently placed at number 6th spot. He will be the key for India in the five-match series.
England Test Squad
Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes (wkt), Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood
Fixtures
1st Test: January 25-29, Hyderabad
2nd Test: February 2-6, Visakhapatnam
3rd Test: February 15-19, Rajkot
4th Test: February 23-27, Ranchi
5th Test: March 7-11, Dharamsala
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