Ian Chappell (Photo Source: Twitter)
Ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former Australian captain Ian Chappell has lifted some concerns about the form of Indian batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, believing that Australian conditions could further expose their recent struggles.
The five-match series starting from November 22 in Perth is important for India’s World Test Championship aspirations, with the team needing to win at least four matches without suffering a single defeat to be in the hunt for a spot in the finals.
With the Men in Blue coming off a shocking 0-3 whitewash at home against New Zealand. Both Kohli and Sharma’s performances were particularly poor, with their averages dropping below 16 in the series. Speaking on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope, Chappell pointed to the tricky Australian conditions as a potential trigger of their struggles.
“The only thing I’d say against that is they’re coming to Australia where the pitches are pretty good, but there’ll be the extra bounce and if they have gone over the top then the extra bounce will find them out,” he said.
Need to make bulk of runs from your best players: Mark Taylor
Meanwhile, Chappell showed his confidence in India’s young talent, praising Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. However, he mentioned that the pressure of age might be affecting Kohli and Sharma’s performances.
“India has got some batting problems. I think Jaiswal is a very good-looking young player, a left-hand opener, I think Gill can really play. But then you’ve got Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are both aging, and you get to that point where people start talking about it and maybe it starts to creep into your head a little bit [where you think], ‘Am I getting to that age where it starts to go downhill?’, and they’re both at that age,” he added.
While Kohli has excelled in Australian conditions, maintaining an average of over 54 in Tests, Sharma has struggled, averaging under 32 in seven appearances. Former Australian captain Mark Taylor gave another angle to the discussion, speaking on how the poor form of India’s senior batters has created additional pressure on younger players and the lower order.
“They [India] have moved on Pujara and they’ve moved on Rahane, and they’ve left Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, their best two players, but all of a sudden they’ve had a bit of a rocky period … and that has put pressure now on the younger guys and also their lower order. You still need to make the bulk of your runs from your best players, and over the last probably 12 or 18 months that hasn’t been the case for India,” Taylor said in the same interaction.