Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell has cautioned Indian batters to avoid overconfidence and flamboyance. With the first Test of BGT looming, scheduled to begin on November 22, Chappell has said that bouncy conditions in Australia could be detrimental to Indian batters.
His warning comes in the wake of India’s disappointing 0-3 series defeat to New Zealand, a result that has put India’s approach under spotlight. This was India’s maiden test series defeat against New Zealand at home. In BGT, India are eying their third consecutive victory on Australian soil, having clinched the series in 2018/19 and 2020/21 seasons.
"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," Chappell said on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope show.
“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 ageing, 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."
With several key batters, including the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, struggling to convert starts into substantial scores, the pressure on the youngsters has increased substantially. Meanwhile, former Australian cricketer Mark Taylor highlighted that the recent dip in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s forms could further complicate the problems for India.
“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,” he said.