Australian bowling great Glenn McGrath urges Aussies to go after “emotional” Virat Kohli

Australian bowling great Glenn McGrath has urged Australia to use attacking mind games against an “emotional” and out-of-form Virat Kohli.

McGrath, well known for throwing early jabs at touring teams through the media in his playing days, said the pressure on the Indian megastar was so great a poor start to the upcoming cutthroat Border-Gavaskar Trophy series could see him crumble.

In the recent record-breaking whitewash humiliation at the hands of New Zealand on their home turf, Kohli averaged just 15, and has only registered a half century once in the past 10 Test digs.

However, the middle-order run machine averages over 50 on Australian shores and enters the series with a dangerous point to prove.

McGrath suggested the Aussies needed to get on top of Kohli early and could do it through his heart-on-sleeve emotions.

“If they go hard at him, if he gets in the fight with emotions, there’s a bit of chat out there, who knows he might sort of lift. But I think he’s probably under pressure a little bit, and if he has a couple of low scores to start with, he could really feel it. I think he’s quite an emotional player. When he’s up, he’s up, and when he’s down, he sort of struggles a little bit,” he told the Herald Sun.

“You look at that series against New Zealand recently, where the three Tests he only made 90 odd runs, his top score was 70. So it was a pretty lean series. He’d be under pressure a little bit. He’s probably feeling it as well.

“So if Australia can start well and bowl well to knock him over the first Test match, that could sort of set up the whole series for us. So I think that’s the first Test is pretty important.”

McGrath added the loss against New Zealand, which snapped a home-series winning streak that dated back to 2012, made perfect ammunition for the veteran Australian fielders.

“Without a doubt, especially after coming off a 3-0 loss against New Zealand, you’ve got plenty of ammunition to back yourself up,” he said.

“So put the pressure on them and see if they’re up for it.”

However, divisive former Test opener David Warner said in a Herald Sun column it could go the other way, with the pressure inspiring Kohli to even greater heights than he’s already achieved.

“People want to write Virat off after India’s disastrous 3-0 Test series loss to New Zealand this month, but I’m actually worried for Australia,” Warner wrote.

“This is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and we know Virat always steps up in Australia and completely embraces that challenge like almost no one else who has ever visited our shores.

“There is no better way for him to come out and shut the critics up. I’m genuinely worried for the Australian cricket team that he’s going to come out and pile on some runs.”

He went on to add Australian superstar Steve Smith was in a similar spot, and the battle between him and Kohli for batting supremacy could decide who takes home the Trophy.