became the first Indian player to reach Australia ahead of the rest of the members for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The arrival of the King was marked with an Australian newspaper reporting his arrival in Perth with fonts in Hindi and Punjabi.
Indian fans shared images of front page of the The Telegraph newspaper, bearing the face of Kohli, with the headline reading: “Yugon ki ladai (Fight for the ages).” Noted journalist from Australia Melinda Ferral, shared image of a section in Punjabi, with an article on young India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The headline read: “Navam Raja (The new king).”
Cover page of Australia’s ‘The Daily Telegraph’ with Hindi coverage and ft. Virat Kohli #BGT #INDvAUS #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/21AjS7CmcF
— Ganpat Teli (@gateposts_) November 12, 2024
It’s not just Hindi. Punjabi on the back page. pic.twitter.com/L7wX1wdR3V
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) November 12, 2024
Acid test awaits for Virat Kohli in Australia
The test series in Australia tour is a make-or-break one for the former Indian captain, given he has managed only three centuries in the last five years. Kohli’s performance in the recent home series against New Zealand was not great either. While India suffered a humiliating 0-3 whitewash, Kohli scored just 93 runs at 15.50, his lowest average in a home series in the last seven years.
Recently former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expressed concern over Kohli’s form. However, the former India captain was backed by Gambhir while hitting back at the former Aussie skipper.
Speaking at pre series press conference, Gambhir said, “What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket and more importantly have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit. I think they are incredibly tough men. They’ve achieved a lot for Indian cricket and they will continue to achieve a lot in the future as well,” Despite Gambhir’s backing, another poor run could leave Kohli’s Test career in dire straits
India’s squad for Border-Gavaskar Series
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
