The outcome of the five Test Border Gavaskar Trophy beginning in three weeks time in Perth could rest on the ability of champions Steve Smith and Virat Kohli to rediscover vintage form in their mid-30s.
The pair have performed brilliantly when their nations are pitted against each other. Smith, 35, averages 66 against India and has made nine centuries. Kohli, who is also 35, averages 54 when travelling to Australia and has made six centuries here.
THE FOLLOW-ON PODCAST: Join leading cricket writers Robert ‘Crash’ Craddock and Daniel Cherny who discuss the biggest storylines ahead of the ODI series vs Pakistan and looming Border Gavaskar Trophy
But the Australian superstar, who will return to No.4 as his nation bids to win the trophy for the first time in a decade, and the Indian legend have struggled to produce anywhere near their best form in recent seasons against other nations.
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Fox Cricket has crunched the numbers and found that their deeds with the bat in recent seasons have been remarkably similar in terms of a decline in their productivity.
A former ICC Cricketer of the Year, the 35-year-old Smith has made 1,142 runs at an average of 39 with three centuries and four 50s in his last 34 innings.
Kohli, who was named the male cricketer of last decade by the ICC, has tallied 1,181 runs at an average of 38, with two centuries and four half-centuries coming in his last 33 innings at Test level for his nation.
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The latest episode of Fox Cricket podcast The Follow On canvasses the recent struggles of the two champions and debates where both Smith and Kohli are at in their careers leading into a fascinating summer in Australia.
Senior Courier Mail cricket writer Robert Craddock said both champions are capable of excelling again but there is clearly some concern about their waning performances.
“I watched Virat Kohli get out in the first innings the other day of the last Test where he missed a full toss from Mitchell Santner,” Craddock told The Follow On.
“You could just see as he walked off he was thinking in his head … ‘I just missed a full toss from Mitchell Santner. How am I going?’
“He is not the Kohli we remember. Yes, he still has that fundamentally gorgeous technique, but up here (in his head) he is exhausted, much like Smith. They have just been ground down in a way.
“But I will say this. I just feel there is a part of Kohli’s heart that gets right up when he comes to Australia. Even last time, when he had to leave the tour, he was looking gorgeous in Adelaide before he got run out and he could have done anything that innings.
“I just think that Australia spurs him … and whatever he has got, he will slap it on the table here. But bowlers no longer fear him. He used to be the absolute talisman. He is no longer that.
“And Smith, he averaged 30 in Tests this year and 42 last year and is the same. His retreat down the order says a lot about his state of mind. He wanted to open the batting and now he wants to go back down to four. For the first time in a long time, he is uncertain about himself and he is just feeling his age.
“I remember Kerry O’Keeffe, on The Backpage for Fox Sports, six or so years ago when Smith was at his absolute prime, he said, ‘I love him as a player, but he is an eye player, and when eye players decline, they go quickly. That will be the watch on Steve late in his career.’
There is a watch on him this summer.”
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