He's one of the finest batsmen in the world and amid of a series of run-ins between Australia and India he also never seems to be too far from the action. 
With the stakes elevated in Sunday night's (1am Monday, AEDT) knockout match for a World Twenty20 semi-final berth Virat Kohli has again been identified as the man Australia must stop.
The issue is how.
"We've tried a few different things, it hasn't really worked," said Australia's elder statesman Shane Watson.
"The silent treatment . . . we thought it might work but he still just goes about his business and is able to churn out the runs. And we've also gone fairly hard at him as well, at times.
"I've only ever seen it affect him [for] about two balls, once, and I dropped him at slip. He knows his game incredibly well and whichever way we go we're just going to have to be at our best to try and get him out early, because once he gets in he certainly knows how to put pressure on bowlers."
Kohli did just that at the MCG in   January during the bilateral one-day series, scoring a run-a-ball 117 and telling a sledging James Faulkner that he was "wasting his energy". "There's no point," Kohli said. "I've smashed you enough in my life. Just go and bowl."
The feisty Kohli, 27, is no stranger to opting for aggression himself, having been one of three Indian players charged during the 2014-15 Test series in Australia.
Australia and India, quite simply, have history, and with so much on the line on Sunday - particularly for an Indian side carrying so much expectation on home soil - Watson wouldn't be surprised if an electrifying pro-India atmosphere at the Punjab Cricket Association ground leads to another instalment in the teams' robust recent relations.
Claiming he is no longer the antagonist from first slip he was, the soon-to-retire all-rounder - this will be his last game for Australia if they are beaten - said he would counsel less-experienced teammates on how to best handle the occasion.
"There's no doubt if I say something in one of the meeting or in the lead-up to the game [it will be about] how things can get fairly heated and they have in the past," Watson said.
"More than anything it's going to be a great experience for these young guys but there's no doubt I'll be saying a few things from my experience in the lead-up or over the next couple of days."
Faulkner shrugged off the suggestion of any residual tension with Kohli ahead of the final Super 10 group match.
"I saw him at the hotel in Bangalore, he's fine," Faulkner said. "There's nothing going on there, it's just a bit of friendly banter. We know how good a player he is and everyone tries to get good players off their game."
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WORLD TWENTY20
INDIA v AUSTRALIA
PCA STADIUM, MONDAY, 1AM