Ind vs Aus: Steve Smith's men have conquered Virat Kohli's mind, says Matthew Hayden

New Delhi: The series started off as 'Test of the best', with not only the home side going in as favourites, but also their skipper Virat Kohli was expected to create a havoc for the Aussies. However, his recent struggle to ease off at the crease has brought up questions among the experts of the game. Former Aussie interntional Matthew Hayden is one of them, who thinks that it is probably due to the long weary home season that is adding up to the current misery of Indian Test cricket, especially to that of the skipper Virat Kohli's eccentric dismissals.

While Australian legend Mark Waugh described Kohli's last dismissal as "brain fade", when he misjudged Nathan Lyon's delivery to depart on a LBW; Hayden feels that it is Smith's men who have conquered his mind and are creating all the trouble. (IND vs AUS, 2nd Test, Day 2 - Live Blog | Scorecard)

After Kohli's scandalous dismissal in the first Test off Strac's outside off delivery, home fans prayed for a confident comeback. But they were left dumbstruck on both occasions, the latest one being in the second Test. After four consecutive double tons off the previous Test series, a score of 0,13 and 12, was indeed agitating.

Not only so, since September, Indians have played a total of 11 Test matches against three nations along-with six limited overs matches.“It’s been a pretty long summer for India, so far,” Hayden was quoted saying by cricket.com.au, "BCCI has asked them to play a lot of cricket and once you are in that momentum, it is hard to claw back."

The former opener remarked that the tracks of both the venues turned out to be an affliction for the home side. Early wickets and ability to build up a partnership added on to the concern ofr Kohli's brigade, however with the wicket being challenging, India are still looking optimistic.

“We are in his mind. We’re in the whole country’s mind, actually, because (there) was such a huge build up to this series. And they really wanted to dominate it. The fact that they can't, is adding on to their nerves," he added.

However, he concluded agreeing to what Nathan Lyon had said earlier that the team has the ability to bounce back and they expect them to do so.