Former Australian captain Ian Chappell reckons Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s form could get worse in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar because of the extra bounce in the Australian pitches. Rohit scored 91 runs in three Test matches against the Kiwis at an average of 15.17 whereas Virat Kohli could only score 93 runs in three Test matches at an average of 15.50.
Furthermore, Rohit could only manage 42 runs in two Test matches at an average of 10.50 against Bangladesh, Kohli scored 99 runs in the same series at an average of 33. Thus, the veteran duo is under the pump for their ordinary performance in the recent past.
However, Kohli has scored 2042 runs in 25 Test matches against Australia at an average of 47.48, including eight centuries. Kohli has even better numbers while playing in Australia as he has scored 1352 runs in 13 Test matches at an impressive average of 54.08, including six centuries.
“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,” Ian Chappell said on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope.
However, Chappell backed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill to find success in the Australian conditions.
“India have 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.
On the other hand, former Australian captain Mark Taylor feels India will want the lion’s share of their runs to come from their best batters.
“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.
The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.
