England seamer Ollie Robinson is excited to restart his battle with Virat Kohli in the upcoming India-England Test series, aiming to play on Kohli’s “big ego” on the former captain’s home turf.

Robinson is one of four seamers in the England squad for the five-Test series that is largely expected to be dominated by spin, but is keen on making an impression to cement his place.

Along the way, he is eyeing a duel against Virat Kohli, India’s fourth-highest run-getter in Tests, who he dismissed thrice on India’s 2021/22 tour of England.

“I actually saw the video of me walking out to bat at Lord’s a couple of days ago,” Robinson told ESPNcricinfo. “I think [Mohammed] Siraj bowled the ball that hit length and hit me in the chest. And in the video, all the Indian players surround me and Kohli is saying… well, I can’t remember what he said.

“You always want to play against the best players, don’t you? And you always want to get the best players out. Kohli is one of those. He’s got a big ego and I think playing on that, especially in India, where he is going to want to dominate and score runs, playing on the fact we’ve had battles in the past, is exciting.”

James Anderson vs Virat Kohli – that familiar rivalry possibly one last time in Test cricket. #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/ymBEGdOsYz

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) January 20, 2024

Robinson’s comments closely followed former England spinner Monty Panesar’s, who believes that the tourists should target Kohli with mind games, tugging at his ego with words.

“Play with his ego and get physiologically stuck into him,” Panesar told India.com. “They should also say things to him like, you guys are chokers when it comes to the final. They should sledge him on those lines because Stokes has won the ODI and T20 WC and Kohli has not and that is going to mentally pinch him”.

The first Test begins in Hyderabad from January 25.