There is a lot of excitement around India’s upcoming Test tour of Australia. The Rohit Sharma-led side will travel Down Under for five Test matches, starting November 22 in Perth.
India have won the last two Test series on Australian soil, while they have held onto the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy since March 2017.
However, the situation is a lot different this time around as the Indian team will enter the Australian shores on the back of a first-ever 0-3 whitewash on home soil.
India lost the Test matches against New Zealand in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai. This outcome also marked the end of their remarkable streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories.
With the Australia tour fast approaching, former England skipper Michael Vaughan has opined that India’s successful defense of the BGT hinges on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli rediscovering their form.
However, Vaughan feared that the two batting stalwarts might not be in the right space mentally to handle Australia's formidable attack, featuring Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Rohit and Kohli have come under severe criticism for their flop show against New Zealand. While Rohit managed to amass only 91 runs in the three-match series at an abysmal average of 15.17, Kohli returned with 93 runs at 15.50.
"The one thing that India are going to require to win in Australia is Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli getting big runs and getting back to their best. I hope they do, I fear they won't," Vaughan told Fox Cricket.
"I fear that they might just be over the edge and when you face an Australian attack that is up there with the greatest that has ever played the game in their own backyard, you've got to arrive here with solid technique and you've got to arrive with an amazing mentality," he added.
Vaughan also highlighted Kohli's mounting problems against spinners as the Indian star struggled against the likes of Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel in the home series.
"I mean last series (in Australia) they won, they had no Virat Kohli to chase down that target at the Gabba. Australia hadn't lost a Test match at the Gabba in 32 years, but I will say there's a real concern around Kohli. That full toss that he missed to Mitchell Santner, that's not Virat Kohli. You're looking at a player that's just fighting at the minute," he remarked.
