Virat Kohli’s decline continues as India’s top order collapses on day one in Perth

There should be no sympathy for India’s shell-shocked top order as Virat Kohli’s agonizing decline continues, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.

Virat Kohli’s excruciating decline is partially an inside job – and it’s why there should be no sympathy for India’s shell-shocked top order in Perth.

India’s obsession with doctoring wickets for spin legends Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja – ironically both omitted from this Test – has crushed the confidence of a lot of their leading batsmen, Kohli included, in recent seasons.

India got what they deserved in Perth.

Kohli’s jarring dismissal, where he moved down the wicket to Josh Hazlewood, realised he was caught out of position to a sharp lifter, propped, and edged to Usman Khawaja at slip, was the product of a muddled mind.

Virat Kohli trudges off after being dismissed by Josh Hazlewood for 5. Picture: Getty Images

The batting great arrived at the wicket with the strut of a proud school headmaster walking into assembly.

There were years when that strut would radiate extreme danger for Australia but this time it was a mask for insecurity.

He was snatching at it.

In the last Test he played against New Zealand Kohli was run out in the last over of the day going for a suicide single.

Kohli has not got his head on at the moment.

He looks anxious. Kohli is in serious decline at home and abroad but treacherous home decks have tormented him.

Kohli chats with Steve Smith as he walks to the pavilion after his dismissal. Picture: COLIN MURTY / AFP

You can only doctor a turning deck so much until you turn a deck into a “lottery wicket’’ where an unpretentious tweaker like New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner turns into the equal of his rivals.

Steve Waugh said on breakfast radio that Australia should be nice to Kohli for fear of antagonising him and stirring the tiger within. But it’s gone past that.

Kohli’s greatest challenge seems to be not getting up for the occasion but not over-cooking his own intensity.

There has been speculation that the end of his career is nigh but only Virat would know the answer to that one.

Decorated Indian players such as Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had their careers ended by selectors after poor Australian tours. But Kohli is at a different level.

Like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and MS Dhoni before him, his legendary status will ensure Virat leaves the game when Virat wants to and not a moment sooner.

In three of the past four years, Kohli has averaged less than 29 in Test cricket yet he remains such a focal point of Indian cricket.

Indian broadcasters deny they have a “Kolhi-cam’’ trained on him all the time but it often feels that way. The game will lose something special when he goes.

Kohli first came to Australia as an 18-year-old and lived in Brisbane for a month with a group of emerging Indian players.

He liked Australia from the moment he landed and it’s why in 13 Tests here he has six centuries. The feeling in India is that if Australia does not bring out the fire in his belly, the fire is gone.