Indian skipper Rohit Sharma wilted under the traditional Australian tactic of mentally breaking down the opposition captains during the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, said former spinner Kerry O’Keeffe. India lost the five-match series 1-3 and Rohit made just 31 runs from three Tests at an average of 6.20. “They couldn’t bring down (Jasprit) Bumrah. He was too good. But then the baton was passed to Rohit Sharma and they brought him down straight away, to the extent that he withdrew from the final Test,” O’Keeffe told Fox Sports.

“So that’s a tactic they seem to want to do if they can, if they can break the skipper and make him anonymous, it empowers them,” he added.

It may be recalled that former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath used to make pre-series predictions as how many times he will dismiss the opposition captain and it often worked against the likes of ex-England skipper Michael Atherton.

Bumrah led India in the first Test at Perth in the absence of Rohit, who stayed back in India for the birth of his second child.

India won the match by 295 runs. The 37-year-old Rohit took over from Bumrah in the second Test in Adelaide, but his personal form and the team’s fortunes went south from that point.

Eventually, Rohit “opted out” of the fifth and final Test Sydney with Bumrah returning to guide the side.

The 75-year-old further validated his point saying the Aussies could not dominate Ajinkya Rahane during the 2021-22 series which India won.

“They couldn’t get Ajinkya Rahane the last time and he won the series,” he said.

O’Keeffe, who played 24 Tests and two ODIs for Australia, said Australia had employed a similar strategy against captains of other visiting teams.

“But if you look at the captains they’ve brought down in recent times, Sharma. Tick. Shan Masood with Pakistan. It was three-nil. Kraigg Brathwaite, it was one-all, but they were on top of Kraigg.

“They went to New Zealand and brought down Tim Southee, winning two-nil,” O’Keeffe added.

The leg-spinner also said veteran batter and former India skipper Virat Kohli had become “bunny” of pacer Scott Boland in the series.

After a hundred in Perth, Kohli was dismissed repeatedly poking outside the off-stump and ended the series with 190 runs at an average of 23.75.

India’s Rohit Sharma leaves the field after being dismissed on Day 2 of fourth Test vs Australia.© AFP

Former India cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan have not held back in expressing their fury over the portrayal of Virat Kohli in an Australian newspaper. Following his shoulder barge incident with Australia debutant Sam Konstas, Kohli was labelled a “clown” by ‘The West Australian’ newspaper, and was humiliated further with a caricature of his face drawn with a red nose. Speaking on Day 2 of the fourth Test, Pathan and Gavaskar stated that unless something is said now, such a trend of disrespecting Indian cricketers will continue in the Australian media.

“Australian newspapers, media and even some ex-cricketers are the definition of being two-faced. First, they go and call Virat Kohli the ‘King’, but the moment he shows some aggression, he is labelled in this way. Double standards,” Pathan said on Star Sports.

“None of us supported the incident, but we left it to the officials. But here, first they’d call him the ‘King’ and then immediately call him a ‘Joker’ after that? You want to sell, you want to make cricket popular but at the expense of Virat Kohli’s market value? We will not accept this,” Pathan added.

IRFAN PATHAN’S REACTION ON AUSTRALIAN MEDIA…!!!! pic.twitter.com/tj5D3k2b7E

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 27, 2024

Pathan stated that such incidents towards Indian cricketers have been continuously happening for several years, and will keep happening if people from Indian cricket and media do not speak out.

Pathan gave an example of how he had been punished despite an argument and verbal abuse being thrown at him by former Australian cricketer Damien Martyn.

“When I got fined for the first time, I had just made a clap while Damien Martyn hurled an insult. But I was the one who could be seen on camera clapping, and I got fined. Damien Martyn escaped scot-free,” Pathan said.

Sunil Gavaskar echoed Pathan’s comments.

“This is old news. It’s always ‘if we do it, it’s alright, if you do it, it’s a crime’,” said Gavaskar.