India Will Be More Ruthless if Kohli Returns for Remainder of Test Series: Nasser Hussain

Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has predicted that the Indian side will play ruthlessly if Virat Kohli makes a return to the national side. He also added that it will be an exciting battle between Anderson and Kohli in the series.

Rajkot: Former England Cricketer Nasser Hussain has said that if Virat Kohli returns to the Indian side for the remainder of the series, the Men in Blue will play ruthlessly.

India are currently playing a five-match Test series against England and the series is levelled at 1-1. The Indian team was playing without the services of ace batter Virat Kohli as he had withdrawn from the first two Tests due to personal reasons. The team for the last three matches of the series is yet to be announced and there are possibilities that the 35-year-old can be included in the team.

Also, his skill set would boost the morale of an inexperienced batting unit. Reflecting on Kohli's return, former England captain Naseer Hussain has stated that the hosts will play ruthlessly if their star batter returns to the setup.

"The one thing about India is that in three of their four innings, they have been a bit sloppy. I know Rahul Dravid, and he would have been ticking inside at some of the dismissals so far. India will think, ‘We keep on giving England a sniff here, let’s be more ruthless’. And the one thing Kohli is, is absolutely ruthless," Hussain said in a Q&A session for the Daily Mail.

James Anderson and Kohli shared an interesting battle on the cricket field and Test cricket has been a witness of it on numerous occasions. The England pacer has dismissed Kohli on 10 occasions out of 37 whenever they faced each other. In red-ball cricket, he has dismissed the Indian batter seven times out of 25 games. Hussain also shared that it will be a battle worth watching in the Test series.

"I hope he does come back because the only thing this series has been missing is the battle between Kohli and Jimmy Anderson. I’m looking forward to that," he added.

In the two Tests played so far, Jonny Bairstow has managed to amass 157 runs with an average of 24.50 with the highest score being 37. Hussain remarked that the wicketkeeper-batter should convert his starts in the upcoming games.

"Bairstow’s an excellent player and just needs to convert one of his starts. It wasn’t just him. All of the England batters got in and got out again in Vizag. Jonny will know if Brook does go to India he will need to be clinical and get a big score. But this England side have shown faith in players and I expect them to show faith in Bairstow," he concluded. The third Test of the series will be played from February 15 at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot.

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