Is Virat Kohli ready for Australia tour? Ex-BCCI selector makes bold predictions ahead of the Australia Tour

New Delhi: Virat Kohli and Test cricket seem to break away from a close bond which was formed over the last decade. The Indian batsman who has been the backbone of the test team has been struggling with form in red ball. Naturally, fingers have started to be pointed towards the Indian batter for the struggling form in the red ball.

BCCI former selector and former cricketer M. S. K. Prasad said on Star Sports:

Virat Kohli is like a duck getting into the water when he goes to Australia. He loves these conditions and probably he must be eagerly itching to just finish off this Wankhede Test match and then go and play in Australia because he loves that…..

In 2024 in Tests, Virat has scored 245 runs in five Tests and ten innings at an average of 27.22, with just one fifty and best score of 70. In the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 though, Virat has been rather solid. He has scored 556 runs in eight Tests at an average of 42.76, with a century and three fifties in 14 innings, with best score of 121.

Interestingly, Virat’s lacklustre form has been persistent in this decade itself starting from the 2020s. In the years following 2020, Virat has so far played 58 innings in which he has scored 1,833 runs in 33 Tests at an average of 32.73. The decade following 2020 saw Virat score 9 half-centuries and 2 centuries in 58 innings with his highest score being 186.

While things look dicey for Team India in the upcoming third test in Mumbai, Team India’s litmus test and hopes of WTC berth rests on the Border Gavaskar Trophy which is scheduled to start from November. Naturally, Kohli’s bat needs to do the talking soon before the WTC chance flies away from the cusp of the Indian team.

India Squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024:

BCCI announced the squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy with Rohit Sharma as the captain while Jasprit Bumrah will serve as the second-in-command.

https://youtu.be/4oSPHA3tu54?si=18lUbyS730D9TpKs

Full Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

Travelling Reserves:

Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed