Virat Kohli was in vintage batting form as India defeated Australia by 295 runs in their Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener, in Perth. After managing only five runs off 12 balls in the first innings, the veteran India star smacked a dominant ton to lead his side to a famous victory.
It was Kohli’s 30th Test hundred and 81st overall, as he smacked 100* off 143 balls. Kohli now has seven tons in Australia, which is the joint-highest for most Test hundreds in an away country for India. He is on level terms with Sunil Gavaskar (7 in West Indies), and ahead of Rahul Dravid (6 in England), Sachin Tendulkar (6 in Australia).
Michael Clarke praises Virat Kohli
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Australia legend Michael Clarke lavished praise on Kohli, and also was left unhappy with his side’s approach towards the star batter.
“Yeah, you couldn’t ask for a better second innings, really. How he come to the crease, minimal pressure on him, he wasn’t scoring as many runs as he would like, sort of walk out like that, team dominating the situation. He played the way we know Virat can play though. So what he did was he was sharp, he was switched on because he knew he needed some runs for his own confidence. So he did the hard work early, and then he earned the right to play his natural game. And by the end of his innings, it was, everyone was sitting there saying, Virat’s back, and there’s no doubt about it,” he said.
“Now, as I mentioned before, a ball was bowled this series. The best players, you don’t want them on top at the start of the series. You want them to have to work their backside off to get into the series. And if they score 100 by Test match three or four, you sort of accept that because they’re so good.
“But to allow him to get 100 in that first test, we’ve got some work to do now to keep him down because he’s full of confidence. He’s got that strut back. And that’s when he’s at his best. That’s why he’s been the best player in the world for such a long period of time,” he added.
In the list for most Test tons against an opponent in India, Kohli is joint-third with Sachin. He has nine Test tons vs Australia and Sachin also has nine. Meanwhile, Gavaskar has 13 vs West Indies and is on top.
