After Ricky Ponting made his thoughts known about India’s batting woes ahead of the series against Australia, there was always likely to be some blowback.

And that’s exactly what happened in the sub-continent following Australia’s dismal loss to open the Test series in Perth, with Indian media piling on the Australian batting order, while one former skipper predicted a dominant series win for India.

As Australia scrambles to sort out the top of it’s batting order, iconic figure Sunil Gavaskar proclaimed India will “thrash” the home team in the ongoing Test series, telling The Hindustan Times that the visitors play their best when they’re backed into a corner.

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Gavaskar referenced the clash between Habhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in 2008 and how the Indian team also came back stronger on that occasion.

He said question marks raised in the Aussie media over Suryakumar Yadav’s catch in T20 World Cup final stuck in the minds of the players.

“After that period of dominance from West Indies, Australia were on top for about 10-15 years, and that is why they did not face a defeat as big as this,” Gavaskar said.

“Now Indian cricket, in the last 15 years … remember India’s win at Perth in 2007/08 series came right after that controversy between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, which was followed by criticism from Australian media. So that win in Perth, and the win this time, it shows that each time Australian media goes against India … now remember that Suryakumar Yadav catch in T20 World Cup final.

“There was so many things being written in the media in Australia question the legality of that catch. How can you sitting right here in Australia question if Suryakumar’s feet touched the ground?

“That is why our team showed that we are a side [that] will thrash you in this series.”

While Ponting underlined Kohli’s poor form against New Zealand in their recent 3-0 home series loss, the Indian media has given Australia’s premier batter Steve Smith the same sort of treatment.

Smith was dismissed for a golden duck by stand-in Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah in the first innings at Perth.

According to Sriram Veera of the Indian Express, the 35-year-old’s style of play at the crease might not be a good match for his ageing body.

“A batsman who can retreat into the most unusual spaces at the crease, feet pressed together almost unlike almost anybody else, but he possessed that mind-boggling hand-eye coordination to wriggle out of what seemed like trouble. To him it wasn’t. The hands would bring the bat and he would play a perfectly compact defensive push, right in front of his pad,” Veera wrote.

“Those hands are a bit tired these days or not quite in sync. Replay that first-innings dismissal against Jasprit Bumrah on the first evening. It was his first ball, and he had retreated well behind the crease, almost square-on, pads brushing each other, his back facing the stumps – nothing about that position is ideal in the orthodox cricket way, but Smith smudges out orthodoxy.

“The hands usually effect a jail-break stunningly, leaving an impression of ‘oh yes, that’s the best way to play that ball’ kind of feeling floating in the air. That was the illusion Smith has created over the years.

“Not recently, though. Certainly not at Perth.”

There was plenty of praise for Kohli as well, after returning to form with a solid century. There were doubts over Kohli’s place in the team after his performance against the Black Caps, yet playing against Australia Down Under ignited the batter’s fire.

“Between the two Australia tours, he had played 54 innings with an average of 33.11. So much so that his overall average, which was 53.41 by the end of 2020, had dropped down to 47.83 before the first Test in Perth,” Gomesh S wrote for The New Indian Express.

“If it had been anyone else, they would have been dropped from the team a long time ago. But Kohli is not any other player. He is the most successful Test captain India have ever had and arguably the best all-format batter of his generation.

“And Australia have been his favourite hunting ground. It is where he made his first Test ton. It is where he announced his arrival as chase master. It is where he became Test captain and scored twin centuries in the same match and it is where he made history becoming the first Indian skipper to win a Test series Down Under. Which is why, despite the poor run at home, there was a hope that he could find a second wind at 36.”