The Indian team have landed in Australia for the much-hyped Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Australian media are all over Virat Kohli at the moment. Most of the top newspapers and media agencies have the former Indian captain in their headlines and cover pages.
However, there are some that are tipping this to be Kohli’s last summer on Australian shores. The 36-year-old has not been in the best of forms this year. His Test numbers read 250 runs at an average of 22.72 in 2024. In fact, his overall international stats this year have been poor – 488 runs in 25 innings with just two fifties. His form in Test cricket hasn’t been the greatest since 2020. He averages a mere 31.68 with just two hundreds and nine fifties.
But Kohli has an excellent record in Australia. His first Test ton came in Adelaide back in 2012 when he was India’s standout batter, scoring 300 runs at an average of 37.50. In 2014-15, he smashed four hundreds and racked up a staggering 692 runs while averaging 86.50. He got another scintillating century in Perth in 2018-19 and he ended up with 282 runs at an average of 40.29. He played just one Test in 2020-21 and struck a half-century.
Despite this, media reports on Herald Sun are preparing for Kohli’s farewell in Australia.
“Kohli left his first impression of note on Australian audiences in 2012 at the SCG when he stuck up his finger to the crowd, but his most lasting one came two Tests later when he scored India’s lone ton of the series. The boy had arrived and would go on to define the Australia-India rivalry for the next decade. This summer, the man looks set to be farewelled on these shores,” an article was quoted saying in the Herald Sun.
‘Yashasvi Jaiswal looks ready to fill Kohli’s shoes’
The publication have named Yashasvi Jaiswal to step in Kohli’s shoes. The 22-year-old left-hander has had an impressive start to his Test career. He averages 56.28 in 14 Tests where he has amassed 1407 runs (three hundreds and eight fifties).
“In his [Kohli’s] place, Jaiswal looks ready to fill in, having spent the past 18 months establishing himself as the most exciting Indian batter of his generation. And like Kohli before him, when he is in full flow, nothing feels out of reach for India,” the article read.
Both Kohli and Jaiswal will be central figures in India’s batting line-up in the upcoming series. Australia have not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the last 10 years and will want to pull one back.
