Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels star India batter Virat Kohli will be extra confident in Australia despite his poor form in recent times. Notably, India and Australia are all set to lock horns in a five-match series beginning from November 22 in Perth. Ahead of the series, there have been widespread concerns around star batter Virat Kohli’s form who’s been struggling to score runs in the ongoing year.
In the recent series against New Zealand, Kohli scored just just 93 runs in three matches, out of which 70 came in one innings. Kohli’s low returns with the bat played a major role in India being whitewashed 0-3 for the first time on home soil. Commenting on Kohli’s form, Gavaskar said that the star batter will be hungry to score runs in Australia having played several memorable knocks in the country on the past tours.
“Because he hasn’t got runs against New Zealand, he’ll be very, very hungry. Even in that Adelaide Test match, where in the second innings we got all out for 36, in the first innings, Kohli got 70 plus, if I recall correctly, before being run out. He’s consistently performed at Adelaide, so it’s a familiar ground for him. And before Adelaide, it’s Perth, where he played one of the finest Test centuries in 2018-19. A terrific hundred. Having performed on these grounds, he’ll feel that extra bit of confidence. Of course, you need a bit of luck at the start, but if he gets off to a good start, he will get big runs,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
Kohli’s poor numbers in 2024
In the ongoing year, Kohli has scored just 250 runs from six Tests at an average of 22.72 with just one half-century to his name. However, his stellar record in Australia sparks hopes of a brilliant comeback in the upcoming series as the 36-year-old averages a staggering 54.08 in the country having scored 1352 runs from 13 matches.
Hence, with India in desperate need of runs from Kohli’s bat in the upcoming series, the star batter will be eager to find his ‘midas touch’ back as India enter a crucial series which holds tremendous importance for their World Test Championship (WTC) final chances.
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