India’s tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is on the horizon, with added pressure following the 3-0 series defeat to New Zealand at home. Batting was one of the primary concerns from that series, as India’s lineup struggled against the Kiwi spinners.

In particular, senior batters in the team had a tough time of it: Rohit Sharma scored only 91 runs in 6 innings, while Virat Kohli only just bettered him with 93 in a subpar performance for the duo.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan reflected on this for Fox Sports, and pointed out that this sort of form would be unsustainable if India want to produce results down under.

“The one thing that India are going to require to win here 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,” he said to Fox.

Vaughan also pointed out that while they are expected to lead the batting as senior members, they have also reached an age where cracks can begin to show in their games. “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 amazing mentality,” said Vaughan.

‘That’s not Virat…'

While he did maintain that runs from Rohit and Virat are crucial, Vaughan also pointed out that India’s success on the previous tour was thanks to a combination of bowling and performances across the batting lineup from top to bottom: "I mean last series 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.”

Nevertheless, Vaughan indicated that Kohli isn’t the same player as he once was, showing signs of struggle in recent innings. “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 (for form) at the minute,” concluded the English pundit.

Kohli has concerned Indian fans and analysts with an unimpressive Test average of 33 in the last 5 years of Test cricket, falling well short of the mark set by his colleagues in the ‘Fab Four’ in Test cricket and also compared to his Indian teammates. Kohli will be looking to rediscover the form of his Australian tours of the past to spark some energy into his Test career once again.

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