Former opener Virender Sehwag believes Australian players are afraid of their Indian Premier League contracts, which led them to not poke Virat Kohli during the recently concluded One-Day International series.

Sehwag said, “They (Australian players) are scared because of the next year’s mega IPL auctions. If they had sledged the Indian players in the ODI series, then the Indian franchise owners might think before bidding high for the Australian players. This can also be a reason for them not to get involved in sledging with their Indian counterparts.”

India defeated Australia in a one-sided ODI series by 4-1, which led hosts to climb at the top of ODI rankings. This can be marked as one of the poorest performance by the current world champions. When this team toured India for Test series in February-March earlier this year, they were not ready to give an inch, which led us to be witnessed the most intense Test series of this decade.

During Bengaluru Test, Steve Smith caught red-handed doing an unacceptable thing when he looked up to his dressing room to receive any clue over his DRS dilemma. Sehwag threw light on this incident and said that ‘Brain Fade’ incident led them to keep mum during the ODI matches.

“I think the Australian team was playing under pressure because they don’t have all the great players now. Their team was dependent on two or three players — David Warner, Steve Smith and Aaron Finch,” the 38-year-old added.

He concluded while saying, “Out of these three players, Smith couldn’t do much. Also, I think the fair amount of criticism which Smith received due to some of his actions, including the “brain fade” moment during the Test series created pressure on them.”

The last round of this marquee tour will end with a three-match T20I series, commencing from October 7 in Ranchi.