Zampa on target as he continues his hold over Kohli

Adam Zampa is one of the few bowlers in the world who can claim to have the wood over Virat Kohli, after claiming his wicket four times in the past year.

Zampa will head to Rajkot for Friday's second ODI with an advantage over the world's best 50-over batsman, having removed the Indian captain six times in international cricket.

The Australian leg-spinner had Kohli caught-and-bowled in Tuesday night's massive 10-wicket win over India, after also getting him three times form five games on last year's limited-overs tour.

In total, Zampa has bowled 16.1 overs at Kohli in ODIs, with figures of 4-126. He has also taken his wicket twice in Twenty20s internationals.

Kohli's six dismissals to Zampa in limited-overs cricket is the equal most he's got out to any one bowler, alongside the six wickets to West Indies seamer Ravi Rampaul earlier in his career.

"He was probably one bowler, who had more belief than others (in the 2019 tour) I felt," Kohli said this week.

"Throughout the game, even when he was hit for boundaries, he kept coming at the batsmen and try and get them out, which I think is important for a wrist-spinner.

"And his mindset was a stand out for them in the last series.

"He's still skilful enough to make breakthrough also, so we have to be respectful but at the same time have belief in our game to be able to play well against them."

Zampa's six scalps against Kohli is double the amount of times he has dismissed any other batsman, having claimed four separate batters three times across his career. That includes three Indians in opener Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav, as well as Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka.

Zampa has had Kohli out trying to go down the ground on five of the six occasions and spoke about the importance of the wicket on last year's tour after dismissing him twice in the opening three matches of the tour.

"It's good for the confidence, it's exciting to get a player like that out," Zampa said last March.

Image Id: https://www.cricket.com.au/~/media/News/2019/03/4Kohli-embed?la=en&hash=B025A185516527DFE6A8AE68182F50C1EAA73548 Image Caption: Kohli falls LBW to Zampa in Bengaluru, March 2019 // Getty

"But it's also one of those things where he probably won't want to get out to me again so I don't know if he's going to do a bit more thinking about it.

"In Australia I tend to bowl a little bit more top-spinners and wrong'uns whereas here I'm probably a bit more out the front, a bit of side spin.

"Sliders with a little bit of leg-spin …. and I got a wicket like that in the first game (of the 2019 tour) – Kohli was the one that went straight on."

Australia captain Aaron Finch was full of praise for Zampa on the eve of the current series. 

"When he gets it right, he's as damaging as any leg-spinner in the world," captain Aaron Finch said of Zampa.

"The great thing about him is ability to bowl in all phases of the game.

"We have seen over his T20 career he bowls a lot in the Power Play now for the Melbourne Stars and does it effectively.

"Not too different to how he would bowl in the Power Play in these conditions.

"We saw the impact he had last series over here. He was able to get key wickets at crucial times.

"(We're) really excited for what he can produce in this series as well."

The Indian captain's wicket will again be the prized scalp in Rajkot and for the final game of the series in Bangalore.

Removed for 16 on Tuesday, Kohli averages a touch under 60 in one-day cricket.

Australia Qantas ODI Tour of India 2020

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (vc), Pat Cummins (vc), Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa

India squad: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami.

First ODI: Australia win by 10 wickets in Mumbai

Second ODI: January 17, Rajkot (D/N) (Fox & Kayo)

Third ODI: January 19, Bengaluru (D/N) (Fox & Kayo)