Aussies facing ’scared’ India
VIRAT Kohli’s endless swagger cannot mask the fact India are starting to resemble a very nervous cricket team.
The feeling around a pumped-up Australian camp is that Kohli and his foot soldiers are “scared.”
A team of superstars that hadn’t lost a game in 20 matches coming into this series, are suddenly on the brink of losing to an Australian squad dubbed the worst to ever tour India.
The Australians believed right from the moment they shocked India in Pune, that the hosts have been looking over their shoulders, terrified at the prospect of having their castle walls stormed.
It helps explain the attitude of an Indian side that clearly arrived for the second Test in Bangalore looking for a brawl to wake themselves up.
The tactic worked, but Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh’s fighting partnership in Ranchi has handed momentum back to Australia, and pressure is now on India to save themselves from embarrassment in tomorrow’s series deciding Test in Dharamsala.
When it comes to Kohli, the suspicion is his personal state of panic about his own spiralling form has been the reason behind his wild behaviour on and off the field.
“They were scared of us beating them in India,” said injured quick Mitchell Starc on Fox Sports.
Fellow pace boss Josh Hazlewood believes Kohli in particular is feeling the heat, with home-ground advantage now neutralised, and his stress levels possibly impacting on his teammates.
“Before we came over they were expected to win 4-nil,” Hazlewood said.
“The pressure is still firmly on them being 1-1 going into this decider and all the pressure is on them.
“I think the whole Indian team has (felt the pressure) and probably the skipper more so. There’s a little bit more pressure on him.
“It’s just that they are expected to win in their own backyard, just as we are at home. The more pressure we can put on the better. The pressure is firmly on them.”
Australia is equally confident and weary about the corner that they have Kohli boxed into.
“A little bit of both I guess,” Hazlewood said.
“For every time he doesn’t get runs he’s closer to that big knock and being a class player it’s going to be at some stage.
“Hopefully it’s not this next game.”
Australia only needs a draw to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy, meaning the onus is on Kohli to manufacture a result in Dharamsala.