Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar defended Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after the duo's poor showing in the opening ODI against Australia in Perth. Playing for India after over six months, the legendary pair looked out of sorts against the Australian new-ball attack on a spicy Perth wicket.While Rohit was dismissed for a 14-ball eight, Kohli fell without opening his account in eight deliveries. Yet, none of the other Indian batters also coped with the bowler-friendly conditions as India posted a below-par 136/9 in their 26 overs in a rain-affected contest.Talking to India Today after the match, Gavaskar opened up on Kohli and Rohit's disappointing return, saying (1:57):"Yes, but they were playing on the bounciest pitch in Australia. So it was not going to be easy if you had not had any international cricket for a couple of months under your belt. It wasn't easy for the Shubman Gills, Shreyas Iyers and others too, who have been playing international cricket quite regularly for some time now.""So it wasn't just the two of them who weren't able to cope with the bouncing ball. Maybe KL Rahul could have gone in after the first couple of wickets, a little bit earlier. But I wouldn't be too hard on both these great players," added Gavaskar.The former opener further elaborated on Kohli's eagerness to get off the mark, saying:"Yes, every batter wants to get off the mark very quickly. Then they tend to settle down just that little bit. It's just one of those mental things for every batter. So it is in that effort to look for a single that he reached out and was taken at backward point. But again, when you are playing on a pitch you are not familiar with, that can cause even the best of players some problems."Incidentally, it was Kohli's first duck in an ODI on Australian soil in 30 innings and only his third across formats down under."Always a very good idea to play some games before" - Sunil GavaskarSunil Gavaskar believes it may have been a good idea for Team India to have a few practice matches before the white-ball tour of Australia to get accustomed to the bounce. After the batters stuttered their way to 136/9, the Indian bowlers offered little resistance as the hosts chased down the target with almost five overs and seven wickets to spare."It is always a very good idea to play some games before, particularly for the batters in Australia, if you are going to be playing at Perth or Brisbane where there is a little more bounce than the other Australian pitches. Also for the bowlers who are not playing the Test matches to get their line and length right," said Gavaskar (via the aforementioned source).He added:"Australian pitches are also hard which means for the bowlers, when they land, it can be jarring for the knee and the back. Even when you saw Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer's dismissals, again it was the bounce that did them in."Trailing 0-1 in the best-of-three ODI series, the Men in Blue are in a must-win situation in the second ODI in Adelaide on Thursday, October 23.