Nathan Coulter-Nile said that Australia will look to take advantage of the new ball against India in T20s
Australia pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile heaped praise on Rohit Sharma ahead of the first T20I against India at the Gabba on Wednesday but he said thay have a plan set for him.
Rohit has been in good form in limited-overs cricket over the last couple of years and is currently the No.2 batsman in ODIs behind India captain Virat Kohli. He has taken the form into the shortest format of the game too and scored a century against the West Indies in the recently concluded T20I series as well.
But, Coulter-Nie hopes that Rohit will contribute in his own downfall and if not, Jason Behrendorff can repeat what he did when the last time the two sides squared off.
"[Rohit] is an unbelievable player, he's got a good record all round the world, so he's definitely a player to watch but we've also had success with the new ball as well," Coulter-Nile said at a press-conference in Brisbane.
"I think Dorff got him out the last time we played him, hit him on the pad, so we'll look to do that again early. Big square boundaries here, so we might test him a little bit, he's a good puller of the ball but he is compulsive as well so we'll try to get him out there.
"I think everyone knows [Behrendorff] is a fantastic option up front. He'll swing it here, beautiful conditions today, so hopefully the same sort of conditions and we can hold our chances, because he'll certainly create a few," he added.
The 31-year-old also weighed in on the whole sledging debate, saying that T20 cricket is too short to engage in verbal battle.
"I've never been sledged by them. T20 its a little bit hard to sledge, you don't have that time in the field to really get angry, so I don't think you'll see too much of it during the T20s," he said.
"I don't talk to any of the batters personally, in T20s I don't think people have too much to say. If they get an opportunity I don't think that'll happen, it'll just be talk with the ball, talk with the bat," the right-arm pacer added.
Coulter-Nile has been in good form with the ball for the Aussies and has picked up seven wickets in his last five T20 games for Australia.
He is expected to spearhead the pace attack again comprising of Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye when the Kangaroos meet India in the first T20I of the three-match series in Brisbane on November 21.
