File photo of Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma.© AFP
The Indian cricket team is going through a disappointing low in the Test format. The Rohit Sharma-led side has lost its three-match Test series to New Zealand at home. This is the first time in 12 years that India have lost a bilateral Test series on home soil. On the other hand, the guests have used the foreign conditions beautifully to outplay India in the first two Tests in Bengaluru and Pune. New Zealand won the first game by 8 wickets before registering a 113-run victory in the second match to seal the series.
While reacting to India’s embarrassing defeat, former Australia player Ian Chappell pointed out the poor performance of players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He marked that both the players are aging and added that it might be playing in their minds as well. Notably, Kohli is set to turn 36 on upcoming November 5, while Rohit is 37 years old.
“India have got some batting problems. [Yashasvi] Jaiswal is a very good-looking young player; left-handed opener. I think [Shubman] Gill can really play, but then you’ve got [Virat] 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 in the head a little bit ‘Am I getting to that age where it all starts to go downhill?’ They are both at that age,” Chappell said during a discussion on World Wide Sports.
Meanwhile, former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who was also present during the dicussion, said: “They’ve moved on from Pujara and Rahane, and they’ve left Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, their two best players. But also, they’ve had a bit of rocky period. They are not making the runs you expect a senior player to make. And that has put pressure on their young guys and the lower order. Rishabh Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin; they can all make runs, but you also need someone to make the bulkier runs from your best players. And over the last 12-18 months, that hasn’t been the case for India.”
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