As he was trudging off the field after scoring his 30th Test hundred - Jasprit Bumrah declared India’s second innings on 487/6 - Adam Gilchrist intercepted Virat Kohli and asked for a quick reaction. The latter wore a satisfactory smile and spoke about how his cricket has revolved around contributing to the team's cause. “I don't want to hang around just for the sake of it, I take pride in performing for the country,” he said.
This century was special. Runs had dried up for Kohli of late. He had scored only two Test hundreds in the last four years. He went to Australia under a lot of pressure, on the heels of a poor home series against New Zealand. His technique against spin was questioned. His international future was put under the scanner. Great players call time on their own terms, and Kohli is a bonafide great of the game.
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In 2018-19, Kohli had scored a Test century in Perth. The innings was so good that batting felt like music, with the lightness of touch. He was at the peak of his powers then. Only a few days ago, Mohammed Siraj had asked Kohli about his best knock in Australia. “My best knock in Australia is definitely my 100 at Perth in the 2018-19 series that we played. I think that’s the toughest pitch I have played on in Australia. It was great to get a 100 on that one,” the champion batsman had said on BCCI.tv. Maybe, he will savour this hundred more.
This was his seventh Test century in Australia and on the face of it, things were nicely set up for him to score a big one. The pitch had eased out, the ball wasn't doing much, and Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul had run the Australian bowlers and fielders ragged. Still, going into this innings, Kohli didn't have the licence to fail. For the record, he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the Indian batsman with the most hundreds in Australia. He became only the third touring batsman, after David Gower and AB de Villiers, to score two Test centuries in Perth.
Unlike the first innings, Kohli looked compact from the outset in the second. A glorious on-drive off Pat Cummins saw him get into the groove. After reaching his half-century, he upped the ante, as the declaration was around the corner.
The tour of Australia has come at the right time for Kohli. It is where he enjoys his batting the most. As he told Gilchrist, a lot of things had gone behind the scenes over the last few months. The 36-year-old thanked his wife Anushka for being by his side “through thick and thin”.
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