Pacer Chris Morris said South Africa will look to put visitors India under pressure by dismissing "big dog" Virat Kohli early in the fourth ODI on Saturday at Wanderers, Johannesburg.
Morris acknowledged the Indian captain's "serious form" but expressed confidence that the hosts will get him out by bowling well enough in the Pink ODI.
Also read: Good news for R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from India's bowling coach
Kohli has been taming the South African attack in India's ongoing tour. While he hit a century in a losing cause in the second Test in Centurion last month, the Delhi batsman has carried his form into the six-match ODI series and has helped the team take an unassailable 3-0 lead.
The Indian captain started his started the ODI rubber with a match-winning 112 in Durban that came when the team was chasing a 270-run target. He hit an unbeaten 46 in the second ODI on Sunday, February 4 as the Men in Blue successfully gunned down a meagre 119-run target after wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal ran through the South African batting order.
Kohli hit another match-winning ton in Cape Town on Wednesday (February 7). It was an unbeaten 160 as India clinched a mammoth 124-run win against the hosts.
"You always want to get the main dog out in a team. Kohli is the big dog and the guy is scoring runs for them at the moment," Morris said during the pre-match press conference on Friday, as quoted by the Press Trust of India.
"34 ODI hundreds speaks for itself. He has got a hundred in every single country he has played in. The guy is in serious form at the moment, and he is in form anywhere he plays in the world," he added.
"He is a good player but we know if we bowl well enough to him we could get him out. We know he is the main guy in the team, and if we can get him out we can put India under pressure
Morris sends 'AB' warning to India
Following their insipid display in the first three ODIs, South Africa are facing a must-win situation to save the series on Saturday. Notably, Aiden Markram's men will be sporting pink jerseys as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign.
Notably, South Africa are in serious danger of seeing their six-match winning streak in pink ODIs come to an end as they have had no answers to Kohli's superlative batting efforts and wrist-spin from Kuldeep and Chahal.
However, South Africa will receive a big boost on Saturday when their batting star AB de Villiers, who sat out of the first three games with an injury, returns to the playing XI.
"AB [De Villiers] is AB, apart from what he brings on the field it's what he also brings off it. I don't think he is feeling any added pressure. He is just going to come in and be AB de Villiers. I think AB de Villiers being AB de Villiers is a very dangerous player," Morris said.
"He brings that calmness and experience. To have a world-class player come back into the side is a special occasion," he added.
