Former Australian captain Kim Hughes feels the Kangaroo team should not become “pussycats” while dealing with Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Kim also said the Australian team must get under the skin of the Indian captain.

“You are not going to become pussycats. That’s not racially vilifying him (Kohli) at all or anything like that but just a good stare, or a couple of words, that’s part of the Australian way. Most blokes’ nicknames are usually when you have a stuff-up, not when you have a had a glorious moment,” Kim Hughes was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The current Australian team has left their on-field aggression and gone quiet in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the world cricket. Following the ball-tampering scandal, former Aussie skipper Steve Smith, his deputy Davi Warner and young batsman Cameron Bancroft were handed out lengthy bans.

According to Kim Hughes, Virat Kohli becomes vulnerable when put under pressure.

“If he (Kohli) is not the best player in the world, he is in the final two or three … I think he is the best player in the world. When you have 1.2 billion people in the world supporting you and expecting you to do well, there is a fair bit of pressure. He is the type of player that you would feel as an opposition that you could get under his skin.”

“Some are just unflappable, it doesn’t seem to matter what happens to them, like a Clive Lloyd – nothing seemed to phase him. Where a Kohli, you just get the feeling that if things didn’t go well, and you could keep the pressure on him, he might chuck the toys out of the cart,” Kim Hughes said.

Indian team is slated to play three-match T20I series in Australia followed by four-match Test series. Men-in-Blue will play three-match One Day International (ODI) in Down Under next year in January.

“I saw him get a run-out once and he was blowing kisses, this sort of stuff. Therefore, and I think the other thing, the Indian players all gain a tremendous amount of faith and belief in him. That’s why, if you can, you can really get into him, more mentally. The real challenge for him is to stay calm, don’t get too emotional,” Hughes concluded.