India vs Australia 2017: Matthew Hayden feels Australians have gotten into Virat Kohli's head

What’s the story?

Following Virat Kohli’s recent struggles with the bat, Australia’s illustrious batsman Matthew Hayden has expressed his views on the same. Hayden believes that the Indian skipper is facing a possible burn-out in the series against Australia and that the team from Down Under have started to worry the captain.

In an interview with cricket.com.au, he said, “We (Australia) are in Virat’s mind. We’re in the whole country’s mind, actually, because (there) was such a huge build up to this series.

In case you didn’t know...

The current cricket season started back in September when New Zealand toured India. Since then, India have played 11 Test matches with two more to go – one in Ranchi and then in Dharamshala.

Virat Kohli, who has just 25 runs in the 3 innings against Australia, had scored 1206 runs in the previous nine test matches. He also scored a double century against every opposition before this series.

The heart of the matter

Expectations were burgeoning on the Indian skipper to repeat the performances he has showcased against all the touring teams this season. But the Indian skipper has failed astonishingly. Yes, Kohli has not lived up to it but the mannerisms in which India’s man-in-form has gifted his wicket in the series makes the scenario extremely unpleasant.

The Australian legend believes that the hectic cricket schedule twinned with brilliant performances from the visiting Australian team is the reason for Kohli's dismal run in three innings. He heaped praise on the Steven Smith-led side for proving their critics wrong and performing exceedingly well in the first Test match on a substandard Pune wicket.

Hayden said that once a team starts to fall behind, it is pretty difficult to stage a comeback. However, he refrained from writing India off in the on-going series and said that if India can get their way, then they will start dominating the visitors.

What’s next?

The second Test match at Bengaluru is set to give us a result. Kohli will hope to put the bad run behind with an impressive knock in the second innings. He will also try to be wiser about his judgements with the bat and the reviews. After this match, India are set to play two more test matches against Australia before the IPL begins on 5^th of April.

Sportskeeda’s take

Captain Kohli is yet to repeat any of the stellar knocks of the past against Australia but one can understand that his poor performances have come on unpredictable pitches. The Bengaluru Test is still in progress and we can expect Kohli to play a match-changing innings when India bat for the second time.