"The Silliest Thing...": Australia Great Michael Hussey On Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma's Poor Form

Ahead of the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former cricketer Michael Hussey backed star India batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and said that one cannot write off champion players like them. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kick off from November 22 in Perth. Adelaide and Brisbane will host the second and third Test matches of the series, respectively. The iconic Boxing Day Test will be played in Melbourne. The final and fifth Test of the series will take place in Sydney from January 3.

Speaking on Fox Sports, Hussey said Aussies will find out where India stand in terms of "mentally and from a skill perspective" only after the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He added that India have got many players who are crowd-pullers.

"We will find out in the first Test match where they are at, mentally and from a skill perspective as well. They will be hurt by this, India. They have got a lot of crowd pullers and quality. We just heard from Gambhir talking about Rohit and Kohli not making runs. The silliest thing you can do is to write off champion players," Hussey said.

He added Rohit and Virat come under criticism but they always perform.

"We have seen it so many times in the past - they come under criticism, but they come out and perform really well. So I'm backing them to perform well in Australia. They are proud Indians and proud Test players. But I still feel Australia will start favourites," he added.

Earlier on Monday, while addressing the media before departing for Australia for the BGT series, India head coach Gautam Gambhir responded to questions regarding the form of Kohli and Rohit. Terming Ponting's opinions on Indian cricket 'irrelevant', the former batter affirmed that both the big guns have a