Sydney [Australia], January 4 (ANI): Star India batter Virat Kohli’s love affair with Australian pitches in Test cricket met the most heartbreaking end possible at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) during the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test as he registered yet another poor score during what could be his final inning in whites on Australian soil, falling a prey to the outside off-stump trap yet again in what has been his worst-ever performance Down Under.
During his final Test inning in Australia, much was expected from Virat to end things on a fine note. After a boundary, an authoritative pull shot against his newest nemesis, Scott Boland, fans expected Virat to come in clutch and deliver a quality knock, standing as a stand-in captain in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah who faced an injury scare.
However, three balls later, Virat was back giving catching practice to slips, nicking one straight into Steve Smith’s hands. For what seemed to be the millionth in a while, he fell to the outside off-stump trap yet again. The anger in Virat’s body language was visible as he let out a loud roar of frustration and walked back to the pavilion distraught like he had never been.
This concluded Virat’s worst-ever full-fledged series in Australia, scoring just 190 runs in nine innings and five innings at an average of 23.75, with an unbeaten 100* hit during the first Test at Perth. While his century at Optus Stadium sparked fresh hope and optimism of another Test peak, Virat’s bat failed to roar in upcoming matches, as he managed scores of 7, 11 (Adelaide), 3 (Brisbane), 36, 5 (Melbourne) and 17, 6 (Sydney).
Only during his knock of 36 during the first innings in Melbourne, did Virat look pretty convincing. In others, the 36-year-old looked highly unlike his dominant, in-your-face and fiery self, blocking his way into a inescapable shell and falling a prey to same pattern once again.
Boland seemed to have Virat in a vice grip, never quite letting him escape his pin-point, well-strategised lines and lengths. He dismissed Virat four times in the series in five innings. Virat could score just 28 runs off him in 68 innings at a paltry average of seven. Virat’s false shot percentage against Boland was 35.2 per cent and 20.5 per cent of deliveries failed to middle his bat.
For those who have grown up watching Virat dominate in Australia, the picture being painted by forces of time, age, destiny and law of averages is a sorry one. During his first tour to Australia at the age of 23 in 2011-12, Virat had top-scored for India with 300 runs in four matches and eight innings at an average of 37.50, striking his first-ever Test ton at Adelaide and a fifty as well. After poor performances initially, Virat stepped up when it mattered the most for sake of his Test spot, posting 44 and 75 at Perth before hitting a century at Adelaide. Amid the ageing gentlemen Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman etc, Virat’s aggression, hunger for excellence and ferocity was fresh and joy to watch.
In the next tour during 2014-15, Virat had graduated from a young, to-watch-out-for prodigy to a mainstay in Indian team. However, this mainstay failed to live up to his new-found reputation during tour of England and could score just 134 runs in 10 innings against swing and seam of England bowlers. With something to prove, Virat took down Mitchell Johnson and his boys with a level of dominance, aggression and determination to win unseen. He top-scored for India with 692 runs in four matches at an average of 86.50, with four centuries and a fifty. With twin centuries during the first Test, he had turned Adelaide into his fortress outside home. Also during this tour, he was promoted to the ranks of captaincy after the retirement of MS Dhoni from Tests and gave some promising signs of future.
His next trip Down Under saw him come as a captain aspiring for greatness in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries. With a brilliant roster of fast bowlers at his disposal, some stunning batting performances by Cheteshwar Pujara and himself, he became the first-ever Indian captain to capture the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He scored 282 runs in four matches and seven innings at an average of 40.29, with the best score of 123, a knock at Optus which is now hailed as an all-time classic. Showing Aussy’s eye for an eye, making bowlers brutalise Aussie batters with some scary body blows and making the bat talk, Virat’s aura and popularity in Australia reached new heights.
The next time Virat came to Aussie shores in 2020-21, he came as perhaps the best all-format batter in the world now set to embrace the challenges and responsibilities coming with parenthood. After the first Adelaide Test, where he played a fine knock of 74 but also faced a massive setback in the form of 36-all-out for Team India in the second innings. Virat head back home to care for his wife and actress Anushka Sharma after a humiliating loss, with 78 runs under his belt in two innings. From then on, Rahane took over his role and led India to an inspiring victory, overcoming inexperience, injuries, racism and a full-strength Australian side.
Now this year, Virat’s challenge was to protect his Test legacy, regain his form on a land which came to his rescue so many times during his career, which had taken a severe hit after a home series loss to New Zealand, India’s first series loss in 12 years. Posters and social media posts, videos, and segments hyping up Virat put up by Aussie media, often employing their own superstar players in these, made Virat’s arrival no less than a festival. This set the perfect background for Virat to deliver an all-timer BGT campaign.
However, in this one and the half month, everyone has witnessed the much-dreaded fall of a champion player. The once-loved cover drive, that brought with it plenty of cheer, runs and batting records, has turned into a horror movie. Fans deep in their minds have been wishing that shot would just disappear from his armoury. Ex-cricketers, commentators and fans, who had seen Virat interchange between the sport’s biggest protagonist and antagonist in Australia at will, found themselves a part of a tragic romance with Virat, where the main character still commands a lot of love, clicks, views, and attention and joy, but his primary powers and runs seem to have disappeared owing to technical shortcomings, forces of time and age, better bowling and conditions etc.
Virat and Australia, perhaps one of modern Test cricket’s most interesting and in-depth mix of rivalry, respect and love story, has most likely ended with a whimper. With age not by his side and no more Test fixtures set to take place in the ongoing Future Tour Programme (FTP) in works till 2027, there is very little chance that the veteran gets to wear white clothing in Australia again. Except for Perth, all of Virat’s fortresses in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide found a dangerous challenger in Boland, who seemed to have all the answers to Kohli.
In 18 Tests held in Australia, Virat has scored 1,542 runs at an average of 46.72, with seven centuries and four fifties in 34 innings, with best score of 169. He has hit highest number of centuries by an Indian and second-highest runs in Australia as an Indian batter. (ANI)
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