Border Gavaskar Trophy: 'Virat Kohli doesn't need us, we need him,' says Jasprit Bumrah after India's win in Perth Test

India stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah opened up on the importance of having senior batter Virat Kohli in the side following his team’s 295-run win over Australia in the first Test in Perth on Monday. India were missing regular skipper Rohit Sharma for the series opener after he opted to skip the match following the birth of his second child.

India also handed Test debuts to Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, with veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja missing out. The visitors responded strongly in the second innings after they were bowled out for 150 in the first, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (161) and Virat Kohli (100*) scoring centuries. This was Kohli’s first Test century since his hundred against West Indies in 2023 during the Port of Spain Test.

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‘We need Virat Kohli’

“I have said this before, Virat Kohli doesn’t need us, we need him. He is an experienced player. This is his fourth or fifth tour. So he knows his cricket better than anyone else. He looked in good shape, he was mentally switched on. Sometimes when you have such a long career, you bat in tough conditions and he has batted in tough scenarios for a long time, but it’s difficult to do that all the time in every match,” Bumrah said at the post-match press conference.

The speedster said that the Delhi cricketer seemed to be in a good space and spoke more on Kohli’s knock. “But he looked to be in a good space and obviously, he got a good delivery in the first innings, but he was still in a great space and he capitalised in the second innings. We needed an experienced batter then. He also played well, and helped his partners play well as well. So obviously, when he gets confidence at the start of the series, you can’t ask for more than that.”

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Australia were dismissed for 104 in their first innings reply, with Bumrah himself doing most of the damage with figures of 5/30. In India’s second innings, Kohli and Jaiswal’s centuries powered India to 487/6, a total which they declared. Australia were then set a target of 534, but were all out for 238, with Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj sharing six wickets between them. Bumrah said that he was proud of this time which missed quite a few key players.

‘Very proud of the team’

“We were put under pressure in the first innings, but the way we responded after that, I’m really very proud of the team.”

“I played here in 2018, so I remember that when you start here, the wicket is a little soft and then becomes quicker and quicker. So I was relying on that experience. Obviously this wicket was a little less spicy than the last one that I played here, but we were really well prepared. So I was just telling everyone to have faith in their process and ability because over here at this moment you have an opportunity to do something special. So on a given day, experience does matter, but if you have faith in your ability, you can do something special,” added the 30-year-old.

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India lead the five-match series 1-0 following their win in Perth and also regain the number one spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings . The second Test will be a Day-Night affair and will take place in Adelaide from 6 December.