 "King Kohli and heir Jaiswal crush Australia in a run avalanche, easing India's worries")
As the shadows lengthened at the Optus Stadium on a long, draining Sunday, chants of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ broke out from various parts of the sprawling venue, populated by 26,166 spectators, most of them unsurprisingly backing the visiting team. Virat Kohli had closed in on a 30th Test century, his first in nearly a year and a half, and the man who has had Australia in the palm of his hand must have relished the attention.
With India pushing for a day three declaration in the first Test against Australia, Kohli could bat with the freedom that he probably hasn’t been able to summon for the last several games. Perhaps that helped him along, for he motored through the 70s and the 80s and the 90s until a swept four off Marnus Labuschagne took him past three-figures.
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Kohli didn’t celebrate immediately. He wasn’t sure if the ball had been stopped by the fielder diving at long-leg or whether it had snuck under him and gone to the fence. It was only after umpire Chris Gaffaney signalled four that he took off his helmet and raised it aloft, then turned in the direction of where his family was sitting to share the special moment with them.
He's back! Virat Kohli hits his 30th Test ton!#AUSvIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/X6P7RnajnX
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 24, 2024
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIt was Kohli’s seventh hundred in Australia , taking him alongside Sunil Gavaskar’s mark in the Caribbean, the most by an Indian batter overseas. Australia had feared the King the most and he didn’t disappoint, shaking off an ordinary run for the first 11-and-a-half months of the calendar year to set himself up superbly for the four remaining Tests.
Raw emotions from the dugout as Virat Kohli reaches his 30th Test TON!
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 24, 2024
This one's a treat for the eyes 🤗#TeamIndia | #AUSvIND | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/PD2kCIgvRk
Where Kohli has had a forgettable year until now, a young man in only his second year in Test cricket has been filling his boots. Yashasvi Jaiswal made a stirring debut in the West Indies in July last year with 171 in his first hit, and has been overdrive for all of 2024, starting the year with consecutive double centuries against England at home and backing it up with consistent scores against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Yashasvi Jaiswal impresses with composure, technique and stroke play
In many eyes, including newspapers here in Australia , he is the heir apparent to Kohli. There was a sense of disappointment even among home quarters when he was dismissed without scoring on the first morning, but by close of play on day two, he had thrilled and wowed the Australians with his composure, his technique and his sparkling stroke play.
A former Australian cricketer who has been there and done that went so far as to say that it was an ‘honour’ to be at the Optus to watch Jaiswal at work. This was after the 22-year-old had worked his way to 90 at stumps on Saturday. If he spent a nervous night wondering whether century number four was in the offing or not, it was hardly in evidence. A ramped six off Josh Hazlewood, which flew over the fine-leg fence, took him to his hundred within 20 minutes of the start of Sunday’s play, making him just the third visiting batter after Rahul Dravid and Chris Gayle to reach a ton with a six in Australia since 2001.
Jaiswal has made it a habit of converting his Test centuries into daddy hundreds. His 161 on Sunday , made in more than six hours, was the smallest of his four tons as he became only the second batter after Graeme Smith whose first four hundreds were all in excess of 150. Jaiswal has the reputation of being flashy, but over the last many months, he has shown his adaptability to conditions and situations. By putting his head down and taking it upon himself to build on India’s first-innings advantage of 46, he reiterated that he is no one-trick pony, and that all the hype that has accompanied him to this country is perfectly justified.
Professing to wanting to ‘enjoy’ himself in a land which hasn’t been kind on batters from the sub-continent, especially, Jaiswal drew on the volume of his preparations of this series, both back home in Thane where he simulated steep bounce on a cement strip with a slanted slab and then at nets and in match simulation exercises both at the adjacent WACA ground and at the juicy pitches in the practice facility at the Optus.
He showed the composure of a veteran and the patience of Zen to bat within himself without sacrificing his natural grain, which is to keep looking for runs.
In KL Rahul, his first opening partner in 15 Tests who didn’t answer to the name of Rohit Sharma, he found a terrific ally who guided him through tricky periods, asking him to breathe and stay calm when he got excited and who also set the tone by leaving the ball superbly outside off. Jaiswal and Rohit became the first set of Indian openers to put on more than 200 in Australia, the bedrock on which Kohli built assiduously.
Virat Kohli completes demolition job that Yashasvi Jaiswal started
Kohli has had his issues with the turning ball over the last three and a half months in Sri Lanka and India but with greater pace on the ball here, he ticked along beautifully. Right from the off, there was intent and purpose, but he didn’t look like a man in a hurry.
A flowing on-drive off Pat Cummins within the first quarter of an hour of his arriving at the crease suggested that he was in the mood, and even though he endured a mini-collapse at the other end, he didn’t lose sight of the larger goal. First with Washington Sundar and later with the admirable Nitish Kumar Reddy , he grew in stature, increasingly looking like the Kohli the world has come to know and respect for the last decade and a half.
The famed wrists came into play and the bustling running between the wickets which is the surest indication that Kohli is purring along smoothly made its presence felt, while an effortless off-drive off Nathan Lyon that mocked the length of the long-off boundary suggested that he was in the mood to keep his tryst with destiny, and quickly at that. His first fifty took 94 deliveries but he needed only 49 more to go from 50 to 100, feasting on a dispirited Australian attack and translating his intention of contributing to the team’s cause into spectacular action.
Kohli completed a demolition job that Jaiswal had started, burying Australia under an avalanche of runs. The King and the King-in-waiting firing together, producing some of the most melodious music? If you so like. Each is his own man, though both are in different stages of their careers. Till such time that their time in the Indian team overlaps, fans will be hoping this jugalbandi continues uninterrupted.
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