Gautam Gambhir's 'Rahul Dravid-VVS Laxman' warning to Rohit Sharma's India after Australia demolition

India have dominated Australia in the two Tests and have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth consecutive time. Former batter Gautam Gambhir, however, has warned the hosts against complacency.

India's comprehensive six-wicket win over Australia in the second of the four-match Test series between the two sides have helped them take an unassailable 2-0 lead and thus retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth consecutive time. While Australia gave India a few scares on the second day of the match, they capitulated in the third, thus making victory straighforward for the Indians, in the end.

India have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series

Reactions to the match has been dominated by criticism for nearly every aspect of Australia's approach towards the series and praise for India, particularly their spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Former batter Gautam Gambhir, however, has warned the hosts against complacency.

Gambhir cited the fact that Australia themselves had lost the famous 2001 Eden Gardens Test from a position of victory after Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman kept them on the field for an entire day in India's second innings after the visitors enforced a follow-on. India went on to win the match and later the series itself. The 41-year-old said that Australia can be similarly galvanised if the likes of Steve Smith or Usman Khawaja managed to score a big century.

"If one of them scores a double century, you would remember Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman did that when India were down and out, one player scored a 280 (281) and another scored a 150 (180) after a follow-on and India won the series. Such things have happened. So you can't count them out but technically, there are a lot of issues," said Gambhir on Star Sports. India had been dismissed for just 171 runs in reply to Australia's 445 in the second Test in Kolkata in 2001. Then Australia captain Steve Waugh enforced the follow-on. However, Dravid and Laxman put up an epic 376-run stand for the fifth wicket and Australia ended up having a 384-run target to chase on the last day. They were dismissed for 212 runs.

Gambhir said that he won't predict a 4-0 scoreline in favour of India yet due to the pedigree of Australia's star batters but stated that those that are struggling cannot learn to play spin now. "I cannot predict if it will be 4-0 because this dressing room still has individuals - Steve Smith, Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja - the batting will be extremely dependent on these three players if David Warner doesn't play.

"I believe you cannot teach defense to these batters now. If you try to improve your technique in the middle of the series, you won't even score the 260 and 120 you scored. Only individual performances can help Australia stage a comeback and not a collective performance," said Gambhir.

"There are a lot of players in that dressing room who will have so many self-doubts that it will be extremely difficult to recover from that. Imagine if Usman Khawaja scores a double hundred or Steve Smith individually scores a century or 150, then Australia can achieve those scores but technically, I don't see them coming back," he said.