Sydney, Australia

Former Australia captain and batting great Ian Chappell has warned the touring Indian Team from going overboard in their attacking approach against Australia Down Under this time. India, who will enter the marquee Border-Gavaskar Trophy after suffering a maiden Test whitewash against New Zealand at home, is under pressure to deliver and win in Australia for the record third straight time. India, however, is also fighting for the spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final next year.

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Chappell addressed Team India’s batting issues, including discussing their struggles against spin (at home) and extra bounce (away). Chappell opined that although some of their youngsters – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are in form, the touring side is aware and worried about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s dying reflexes, considering their age and performance lately.

The former Aussie legend added that if India tries to be over-aggressive in their shot selection Down Under, extra bounce might catch them up, further exposing their batting vulnerabilities. 

“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." 

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"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.

Pressure on youngsters

With Team India overlooking Test giants Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane for this tour and Rohit and Virat struggling to get among the runs, the pressure has fallen on youngsters, who failed to justify their selections in the past year or so. 

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Chappell reckons that India is overly relying on youngsters (Jaiswal, Gill, Sarfaraz Khan and even Dhruv Jurel) to deliver against the high-flying Aussies so much that the thought of them winning the third time could suffer a beating.

“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 continued.

The Optus Stadium in Perth will host the first Test starting November 22, with Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney scheduled to stage the remaining four matches.

(With inputs from agencies)