Brisbane [Australia], December 13 (ANI): Star India batter Virat Kohli will be playing a landmark 100th international game against Australia when he takes to the field for the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Brisbane and this occasion will be all the more crucial for him as he looks forward to regain his golden touch with the bat and conquer a venue where he has not found runs.
Heading into the third Test, the series is level at 1-1. After a loss to India by 295 runs at Perth’s Optus Stadium, the hosts bounced back magnificently with a 10-wicket win in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide, where the star-studded Indian line-up failed and the dominance of pink-ball maestros Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins was evident throughout the match. Virat also became a victim of Australia’s pink-ball prowess, managing scores of just 7 and 11 after getting his 30th Test ton at Perth during the first Test.
In 99 matches against Australia so far, he has scored 5,326 runs at an average of 50.24, with 17 centuries and 27 fifties. His best score is 186. He has second-highest amount of international runs and centuries against Australia next to the great Sachin Tendulkar (6,707 runs in 110 matches and 20 centuries). Virat holds many world-level and Indian batting records as a visiting batter coming to Australian shores and this is a country which has served him the best outside India, using its bouncy, fast pitches to script some memorable returns to form.
Despite his dominance in Australia, Virat has not scored a century at Brisbane’s Brisbane Cricket Stadium, also known as ‘The Gabba’, having scored 19 and 1 in his only outing at the venue in 2014. Besides this, he has not scored a century at the WACA Stadium in Perth, having made a Test career-saving 44 and 75 in his only outing there back in 2012. In the current list of stadiums hosting the BGT matches, which includes Perth’s Optus Stadium, Adelaide Oval, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), this stadium is the only one where he has not found a century.
For Virat, the issue is not only conquering ‘The Gabba’, but also regaining the consistency which made him the best all-format batter in the 2010s. Since 2020-start, he has scored just 1,961 runs in 36 Tests and 64 innings, averaging a disappointing 32.14, with just three centuries and nine fifties to show for and a best score of 186.
On the other hand, in the ongoing Test season which started with the Bangladesh series, Virat has scored just 315 runs in 14 innings at an average of 26.25, with a century and a fifty in 14 innings. His best score is 100*. This year in eight Tests, he has scored 373 runs in eight Tests at an average of 26.64, with just a century and fifty in 16 innings.
In 11 Tests of the current ICC World Test Championship cycle, Virat has made 684 runs in 11 Tests and 20 innings, averaging 38.00, with two centuries and three fifties and best score of 121.
Will Virat tick both boxes, conquer ‘The Gabba’ and gain more consistency? Only time will tell.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal. (ANI)
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