“I doubt an overseas player in the last 15 years has come to Australia and played in this fashion” : Ravi Shastri lauds Virat Kohli after iconic ton at Perth
There is no point left in doubting the abilities of Virat Kohli anymore. Time and again, the veteran batsman has found a way to come back and regain form like no other batsman. And at the age of 36, King Kohli yet again proved his doubters wrong and scored a world class century on day 3 of the first test against Australia.
Virat Kohli now has 81 international centuries to his name, and 30 in the longest format of the game. His poor form this year in international cricket has been heavily talked and criticised about, due to the standards he has kept for himself throughout his career. The veteran produced a man of the match performance in the T20 World Cup Final against South Africa, as fans thought that he would continue this momentum in test cricket starting August.
Although that was not the case, as Kohli struggled scoring and had only one half-century to his name in five home tests. This changed when India headed to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli has had a knack of scoring against Australia throughout his career, and he has by far been the best overseas player to ever step foot on an Australian pitch.
Scoring 100 off 143 balls with eight fours and two sixes, this marked Kohli’s seventh century in Australia, surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar along his way.
“They call him the King” : Ravi Shastri on commentary
Former India head coach and an iconic voice of cricket commentary, Ravi Shastri, was obviously pleased to see his captain back in form after a dry spell of matches. Shastri praised the 36-year-old on commentary as he crowned him the greatest overseas player in Australia for the last 15 years.
“Seven hundreds in Australia. The big stage, the big ground. One of the bounciest pitches in the world. I doubt an overseas player in the last 15 years has come to Australia and played in this fashion,” Shastri said on Fox Cricket commentary.
“He plays two Test matches and he gets two hundreds. You can’t get a better stage and to set up the series.”
“They call him the King. To get a hundred in the very first Test match of the series. It is a terrific signal for India. It is ominous from Australia’s point of view. But look at the joy. It’s a popular hundred and I think fans the world over wanted to see this bloke come to Australia and perform again.” the 62-year-old added.
India comfortably won the first test at Perth by a whopping 295 runs courtesy of their second innings batting prowess as Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli played stellar knocks while Jasprit Bumrah was tidy as ever with the ball. The second test starts on 6 December at the iconic Adelaide Oval.
