'India faces reality check as Kohli, Rohit hit rock bottom ahead of AUS tour: Pujara, Rahane left behind by BCCI'

India's batting continues to be a major concern leading up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, with former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor drawing attention to BCCI's decision regarding Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Additionally, legendary Australian cricketer Ian Chappell expressed his belief that senior batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are at a stage in their careers where their performance may start to decline.

Since the appointment of Ajit Agarkar and his selection committee in July last year, the BCCI made their stance clear on moving on from Pujara and Rahane. While it put more pressure on Kohli and Rohit, who remained the only seasoned batters in the Test line-up, it unearthed 22-year-old opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and 27-year-old middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan. However, Taylor, speaking on Wide World of Sports' Outside the Rope, reckoned that India's incurring a rocky road in Test cricket has been down to the fact that neither Kohli nor Rohit has been among the runs in the last 18 months.

"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," Taylor noted.

"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."

Since Agarkar's appointment, while Jaiswal (56.28), Rishabh Pant (46.88) and Shubman Gill (41.85) have emerged as the best batters, Kohli averaged 37.40 and Rohit 33.32, although in 2024 alone, they have averaged a below-par 22.72 and 29.40, respectively.

Chappell, who was part of the same panel, reckoned that while there is criticism and concern over the future of Kohli and Rohit, especially after the horrendous show against New Zealand last week, but feared that the off-field discussion, at one point, might creep into their head and make them raise a similar question.

"India have got some batting problems. I think Jaiswal is a very good-looking young player, 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 down hill?', and they're both at that age. 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," he said.