MELBOURNE — Australia have yet to work out a plan to foil India captain Virat Kohli beyond bowling well and hoping for some "luck" against the in-form batsman, coach Darren Lehmann has said.
Kohli was man-of-the-series against England, plundering 655 runs off their bowlers at an average of 109.16 to comfortably top the batting charts during the 4-0 win in November and December.
The buccaneering 28-year-old looms as a huge obstacle to Australia's hopes of capturing a first series win in India since 2004, with the first Test to start in Pune on Feb. 23.
Kohli has scored six of his 15 centuries in his 12 matches against Australia, averaging 60.76 compared to his overall average of 50.10.
Former Test batsman Lehmann, a member of that victorious Australian side, said his players had been watching videos of Kohli and his team mates for months but were yet to work out how to combat the India skipper.
"Bowl well and have a bit of luck along the way," Lehmann told reporters. "For us we're going to have to come up with an ideal plan that works for us, depending on (the) wickets and what's going on.
"At the end of the day you're going to have to bowl enough good balls and that's going to be the challenge for our spinners and for our quicks, challenging his defense and making sure he's playing in the areas we want him to play."
Michael Clarke's Australia were whitewashed 4-0 during their last tour of India in 2013 where a breakdown in team discipline prompted former coach Mickey Arthur to sensationally stand down four players for a match for failing to complete an off-field assignment, the infamous 'homework-gate' incident.
Australia were outclassed by bat, ball and in the field during that tour, but four years later, Lehmann said Steve Smith's side have the bowlers to take 20 wickets against Kohli's men.
"We've got spinners who can take 20 wickets and quicks who can reverse the ball," he said. "So we're not fearing getting the 20 wickets, we've just got to put enough scoreboard pressure on them."
That would mean a break-out performance from at least one of their batsmen, similar to the 2004 efforts of Damien Martyn and Clarke, Lehmann added.
Martyn and Clarke, who made his Test debut in the series, together scored over 800 runs to set a solid platform for Australia's bowlers, led by pacemen Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, and spinner Shane Warne.
"The great thing with the Australian cricket team for years has been, backs to the wall brings the best out of players," said Lehmann. "Someone like Matthew Hayden will stand up or Damien Martyn will come out of nowhere and actually play well on a tour. We hope we'll have a Martyn or a Hayden-type series from someone. And if we do that we'll make enough runs, obviously.
Australian players want review of performance pay
Australia's cricketers have demanded a review of performance-related pay for contracted players who stand to take another financial hit after an under-strength One-Day International team was defeated by New Zealand last week.
Selectors have rested top players for one-day series to cope with the demands of the packed international schedule and without the team's best batsman David Warner, the tourists lost 2-0 to New Zealand.
Frontline pace bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were also rested from the one-day series in South Africa in November and the depleted side were whitewashed 5-0 by the hosts.
With compensation burnished by performance bonuses for winning series, Australia's cricketers can find their pay packets diminished when teammates are rested due to overlaps in the schedule.
Australia could also lose their world No. 1 ranking in one-day cricket if South Africa defeat Sri Lanka in the last two matches of their series this week, meaning another potential hit for players who can receive further bonuses when the team holds the top ranking across the three formats.
Players, who have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with governing body Cricket Australia, said the performance-based system needed to be revisited. "The performance pool was agreed in the last MOU negotiation but now we have a system that needs to be reviewed," Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Alistair Nicholson said.
"There is a situation when this model is combined with the overlapping of the schedule and having players rested, it will need revisiting in the MOU negotiations. The ACA will be exploring both the schedule and the performance pool as part of the current discussions."
Cricket Australia declined to comment but has described the global scheduling regime as "difficult" and said it wants less international cricket rather than more. Australia's Twenty20 side for the series against Sri Lanka starting Feb. 17 will be without a number of key players who will be touring India for the Test series.
Warner, captain Steve Smith, Starc, Hazlewood and batsman Usman Khawaja will all be in India preparing for the first Test in Pune from Feb. 23. The proliferation of limited overs series with little context or meaning has been criticized by former players and pundits.
World governing body, the International Cricket Council, proposed a radical shake-up of international scheduling at its meeting in Dubai last week which would provide more context for cricket's three formats from 2019 onwards.
