 "Virat Kohli celebrates after completing his 30th Test hundred on Day 3 of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth. AP")
Virat Kohli roared back to form in style with his 30th Test hundred on Sunday as India set Australia a mammoth 534 to win the first Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. Kohli, however, wasn’t the only centurion on Day 3 of the series opener at the Optus Stadium with Yashasvi Jaiswal slamming a magnificent 161 and sharing a mammoth 201-run opening stand with KL Rahul, who also silenced his critics with a patient 77.
Kohli, who had been under tremendous pressure to regain his form along with skipper Rohit Sharma, brought up the three-figure mark with a sweep off Marnus Labuschagne in the 135th over. The batting maestro waited for a few seconds before taking his helmet off and celebrating the milestone in style, blowing a kiss to wife Anushka Sharma – who was sitting in the stands.
The former India captain stitched valuable partnerships with Washington Sundar (29 off 94) and Nitish Reddy (38 not out off 27 balls) worth 89 and 77 respectively, the latter an unbroken stand, helping the visitors recover from a mini-collapse following Jaiswal’s dismissal and nearly post 500 in response to collecting a handy 46-run first innings lead.
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Jasprit Bumrah had taken his arm guard off around the time Kohli was closing in on the three-figure mark, and declared soon as the latter brought up his century – his seventh in Tests in Australia, taking him past Sachin Tendulkar’s six, making him the Indian batter with most Test tons Down Under.
Team India would then strike thrice and reduce Australia to 12/3 at stumps, with Bumrah trapping both Nathan McSweeney (0) and Marnus Labuschagne (3) LBW – the latter off the last ball of the day. Mohammed Siraj would then get rid of Pat Cummins, who had arrived at the crease as the nightwatchman but was dismissed on 2 after nicking the ball to Kohli in the slips.
Earlier in the day, Jaiswal had struck his fourth Test century – bringing up yet another ‘daddy’ hundred and setting the tone for India’s domination of the Australian bowlers in their second innings. Jaiswal has had a wonderful year so far and was even one of the lone bright spots in what was a horrid series for Indian batters against New Zealand at home.
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India had been bundled out for 150 on Day 1 after stand-in skipper Bumrah opted to bat. The visitors, however, responded brilliantly with the ball as Bumrah’s five-for (5/30) along with handy contributions from debutant Harshit Rana (3/48) and Mohammed Siraj (2/20) helped restrict the Aussies to a paltry 104.