Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has predicted that India captain Virat Kohli will not be able to score a hundred in Australia when his team tours Down Under later this year.
India are scheduled to travel to Australia in November for a three-match T20I series, four-match Test series - also known as the Border-Gavaskar series, and a three-match ODI series.
India will look to win their first Test series on Australian soil as the hosts will be without their banned captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner.
Both Smith and Warner are serving a 12-month bans handed down by Cricket Australia for their roles in the ball-tampering incident during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March.
Speaking during a dunction in Sydney on Tuesday, Cummins sounded confident that Australia will be able to neutralise Kohli.
"My brave, bold prediction; I'd say I think Virat Kohli is not going to get a hundred and we're going to knock them off over here," Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
However, given Kohli's stupendous record in Australia, Cummins' comments seemed nothing but 'mind games'.
Kohli, who is the world's top-ranked Test batsman, averages above 53 in Test cricket. When in Australia, Kohli's average climbs to 62 in eight Tests.
Kohli's maiden Test hundred came in Adelaide in 2012. In India's last tour to Australia in 2014, Kohli scored four centuries, including two in Adelaide and one each in Melbourne and Sydney.
Former Australia pacer Glenn McGrath, who was also present at the function, suggested Australia to put pressure on Kohli.
"I want to see Australians put pressure on Kohli and just see how he handles it," McGrath was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
"It's going to be a good, hard, tough series. Kohli has got a bit of an aggressive attitude, but showed last time he was out here he’s not going to take a backward step.
"If they can get on top of Kohli I think it can have a big effect on the game," McGrath added.
