New Delhi: Virat Kohli who will be the key to India’s success in Australia is finding his form slowly and steadily in the first stint in the match simulation at WACA. Kohli’s practice simulation lasted for 15-20 minutes which saw him score 15 runs before he was dismissed by Mukesh Kumar.
Subsequently, Kohli again came out to bat in the second stint after KL Rahul left the field due to an elbow injury. While Kohli looked keen to unleash some of his trademark drives, he wasn’t always successful due to the bounce the WACA pitch managed to produce from most spots.
Kohli came up against a string of bowlers like Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Of the lot, Mukesh was reportedly the biggest challenge for Kohli, as per Cricbuzz. The reason for the same is that Kumar got the ball to skid and made it difficult for Kohli to hit it. Once, the ball even kissed the bottom of Virat’s bat and landed on the ground right in front of the slip cordon.
However, in the end, Kohli did manage to find the sweet spot but eventually departed to Mukesh while trying to connect a 5th stump delivery.
Virat in Australia☟☟:
So far, Virat Kohli has scored eight Test centuries against the Australian cricket team.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 100s | 50s |
| 25 | 2042 | 47.48 | 52.41 | 8 | 5 |
Border Gavaskar Trophy: Schedule
| Match | Venue | Date |
| 1st Test | Perth | November 22-26 |
| 2nd Test (Day/Night) | Adelaide Oval | December 6-10 |
| 3rd Test | Brisbane | December 14-18 |
| 4th Test | Melbourne | December 26-30 |
| 5th Test | Sydney | January 3-7 |
Australia squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc
India Squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024:
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