"Got completely exposed" - Virat Kohli's childhood coach on Indian batters' performances in ODI series vs Australia

Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma believes that Team India batters must find a way to tackle left-arm pacers, as they have consistently struggled against them.

He noted that the Men in Blue batters performed poorly in the first two matches of the ongoing home ODI series against Australia. Sharma opined that players must overcome these weaknesses on the road to the ICC ODI World Cup.

Sharma was speaking about the Indian batters during a discussion on India News Sports:

"Team India's performance in the second game was very surprising. It is a major setback. We have to take it as a wake-up call and prepare accordingly for the World Cup.

"Our batting got completely exposed, which is very concerning because we will have to play the same kind of bowling in the World Cup. The batters' weakness against left-arm pacers was exposed once again, and they need to work very hard."

Notably, Mitchell Starc ran through India's star-studded batting lineup in the second ODI at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The speedster bagged his ninth five-wicket haul in the format, helping his team bundle out the hosts for just 117 runs.

Apart from Virat Kohli and Axar Patel, no other Indian batter could cross the 20-run mark in the encounter. Furthermore, a total of seven batters were dismissed for single-digit scores.

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"This cannot be seen as a one-off failure" - Saba Karim on Indian batter's woes against fast bowlers

India v Australia - 2nd ODI

Former cricketer Saba Karim, who was also a part of the same panel, emphasized that Indian batters surrendering to quality fast bowling isn't a rarity. He pointed out that this has happened on several occasions.

The former wicketkeeper highlighted that the home side were in trouble even in the opening ODI, where they were reeling at 39/4 at one stage. Karim remarked that the team cannot expect their middle order batters to bail them out every time.

"This cannot be seen as a one-off failure. We struggled even during the first match while batting in the second half. This was the second time that Mitchell Starc troubled us. We struggled against Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis as well.

"The Indian team management and selectors will have to raise some hard questions now. How many times are you going to count on your lower middle order to bail you out? The top order batters will have to work on their techniques. We have been repeating the same mistakes over and over again."

Australia made a mockery of the 118-run target in the second ODI, chasing it down in just 11 overs to claim a 10-wicket victory and level the series 1-1. The third and final game will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, March 22.