"If India Go Over The Top…": Aus Legend's Sharp Warning To Rohit And Co.

Former Australia Test captain Ian Chappell believes if the Indian batters try to go over the top with their shots in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, then they will be found out by extra bounce in the conditions during the all-important series. India will reach the Australian shores after a disappointing 3-0 series defeat to New Zealand at home. The poor form of captain Rohit Sharma and talismanic batter Virat Kohli are among the visitors’ main concerns.

“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.”

“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,” said Chappell on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope show.

India have won the past two-Test series in Australia by identical 2-1 margins in 2018/19 and 2020/21, respectively. Former Australia skipper Mark Taylor thinks that with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not in great form, the pressure to make big runs is more on the young batters in the squad.

“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.”

The 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy will see India and Australia play Test matches in Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball match), Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney from November 22 to January 7, 2025. It will also be the first five-match Test series between India and Australia since 1991/92.

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