In the midst of his poor batting performance, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly supported veteran Virat Kohli to do well in Australia at the forthcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy. Since Virat’s dry spell has been the talk of the town during the BGT build-up, expectations have been growing around him.
Since 2020, the worrying indicators have been quietly lurking in the background. The “Chase Master” has endured a protracted period of weakness in cricket’s longest format. Virat has amassed 1,838 runs from 34 Test matches over the last four years at an average of 31.68, including just two hundreds and nine fifties.
The series is being touted in Australia’s favour, and former Australian players have bet on Virat’s form to be the game-changing event. Given Australia’s history of saving Virat, Ganguly anticipates that the flamboyant batsman would do well for India in one of the difficult Test series.
“Absolutely, he is a champion batter. He has had success in Australia in the past. He scored four centuries in 2014 and scored a hundred in 2018 as well. He will want to make this series count, and he will also know this could be the last time he is touring Australia to play Test cricket,” Ganguly said while speaking to Boria Majumdar on Revsportz.
Twice, in 2012 and 2014, Virat’s admiration for Australian conditions silenced his detractors. His future appeared grim during a worrisome 2011 tour to the West Indies, where he scored a pitiful 76 runs in five innings and averaged a meagre 15.20. Following a poor start to his first two Test matches in Australia, he appeared certain to be dropped. In the following two Test matches, however, he gave it his all, scoring 44 and 75 in Perth.
Virat’s career was revitalised in Adelaide when he finally produced his first Test century, a memorable 116 in 213 balls that was filled with his signature strokes and confidence. After a run of dismal performances, Virat found his rhythm in a series that was nothing short of a fairytale in 2014. The series has the potential to make or break his career, with concerns about his future being raised once more.
Given his lacklustre previous performance, Ganguly believes Virat will thrive in Australia and anticipates that he would do well against fierce competition. Thus, this is a huge series for Kohli in every way. I do not wish to overanalyse the New Zealand series. Good batting was not possible due to the pitches. He will like the circumstances in Australia. Good pitches will be made. In this series, I am supporting Virat to do well in Australia,” he continued.
Virat has intensified his preparations with the entire team ahead of Friday’s series start in Perth. After Australian media revealed that Virat Kohli had undergone scans, questions were raised regarding his fitness. But Virat didn’t seem uncomfortable during the intra-squad match simulation last Friday.
He performed his signature cover drive. On 15, though, he edged a delivery from Mukesh Kumar to the second slip. Later, he was in the nets for around half an hour. Prasidh Krishna and Nitish Reddy threw a flurry of short deliveries at Virat Kohli on his second appearance. He batted for an hour to finish on 30, appearing perturbed by a few balls but not showing any indications of pain. (ANI)