Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has opened up Team India’s star batter Virat Kohli’s back-to-back failures in the recently concluded second Test against New Zealand in Pune. He also added that the former India captain changing his mindset was the reason behind his downfall as well.

“They took New Zealand too lightly and they are trying to play catch-up cricket. All of a sudden, you saw that mindset shift with Virat Kohli in the first innings of the second Test match. He was more aggressive, the way he strolled out there, the way that he was trying to attack the bowling. He just looked like he was overanalyzing. He looked as if he wasn’t in control of his emotions and it showed in the shot that he played when he got out. If you look at the technique of Rohit Sharma to Southee, he’s going to have to be a little bit tighter. Virat Kohli has to switch on from ball one,” he added.

However, Brad Hogg said that the series defeat against New Zealand could be a blessing in disguise for Team India before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He again said India will now work harder for the Australia tour and will be more motivated to win.

“The loss against New Zealand is actually a good thing because it’s made them think, ‘Hang on, we are not quite as good as we think. We should have dominated here but we haven’t. Now we’ve got work to do to say in the World Test Championship competition. So, they will come down here with a little bit more energy, a little bit more fire, a little bit more heart, and they’ll work a lot harder than probably what they would have done beforehand to make sure they’re ready for that first Test match here in Australia,” Brad Hogg concluded.