Kohli rekindles Aussie love affair

Canberra: There was disappointment in store for a sizable number of young Indian fans when the Indian team landed here at the Canberra Airport late on Wednesday evening sans Virat Kohli who had already arrived by an earlier flight. The fans, however, had a swell time as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, among others, happily posed for selfies and signed autographs despite landing here after a five-hour flight from Perth.    

But the fans can see their favourite batter at the Manuka Oval which will host the day-night match from Saturday following which the Indian team heads to Adelaide for the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Kohli has an unfinished job in Adelaide, the venue for the second Test which will be played under lights. It was at the Adelaide Oval that Kohli led India for the last time on Australian soil before he returned to India for the birth of his first child. While the arrival of his daughter may have helped him forget the team's humiliation in 2020-21 when the tourists were bundled out for 36 in the second innings, the bitter memories are sure to surface when he steps onto, ironically enough, his most favourite venue outside India.

It was in Adelaide that he scored his maiden Test hundred (116 in 2012) and almost won a match as a stand-in skipper in 2014 with a hundred in each innings (114, 141). He also has two ODI centuries in four matches.

While the quaint Adelaide waits for a reunion with Kohli, the Indian team's morale would have gone up a notch when the struggling batting superstar cracked a stroke-filled century in the opener in Perth -- his first Test hundred in almost a year spread over 15 innings. Though the openers had set the base nicely with a 200-run stand in the second innings, Kohli's knock was reassuring to a team whose famed batting had been brought down to its knees in recent times.

There were hardly any unconvincing pokes from Kohli at deliveries outside off-stump and the reduced gap between legs and optimum utilisation of the crease not only helped him get on top of the bounce on Perth wicket but also make right adjustments at the last minute.

"Obviously, Virat scoring runs is always a great sign for us," stand-in skipper Bumrah said after the Perth win. "He didn't look out of touch in the nets as well. Sometimes when you play on a tough wicket, you can't even judge a batsman. You've not spent enough time to know if he's in form or not."

A run-scoring Kohli means a calm dressing room. It was the case during Sunil Gavaskar's era, Sachin Tendulkar carried forward the legacy and Kohli has built on it. 

A run-scoring Kohli also means an animated Kohli who pours out every ounce of his energy onto the field. His celebrations go OTT (over the top) and his appeals dance on the thin line between breach of code and cringe-worthy reaction. But he knows what it does to his team and the team knows why it's needed. In Perth, when he often acted as shadow captain setting up fields and planning strategies while Bumrah focused his energies on his bowling, you could sense the energy in the group.

It was, therefore, little surprising to see Bumrah pay a heartfelt tribute to the 36-year-old batter.

"I have already said that Virat does not need us, we need him," he gushed. "Sometimes, as long as his career is, you bat in tough scenarios. He has always been batting in tough scenarios. So, it is difficult to do (well) in every match. But he was in a very good form and in a very good space. And obviously, he got a good delivery in the first innings. But he was still in a great space. And in the second innings, he capitalised. So, we are very happy about that. And obviously, at the start of the series, when he comes into confidence, you can't ask for more than this."

With this being Kohli's last tour Down Under for the BGT, the batter, who evokes admiration and admonition in equal measure among Australians, would be keen to make it count.