 "Australian newspapers feature Kohli on front page, headlines in Hindi and Punjabi as BGT fever grips Down Under")
The marquee Test series between Australia and India for Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to begin a little over a week from now with the opening game of the five-match series set to get underway on 22 November at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
The BGT fever, however, appears to have gripped both nations well before the first ball is bowled with Indian batting superstar and former captain Virat Kohli being featured extensively on Australian newspapers, some of them even carrying accompanying text in Hindi and Punjabi along with English.
Sydney-based tabloid The Daily Telegraph, for instance, featured Kohli on its front page with the text Yugon Ki Ladai (fight for the ages) in Hindi. Opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal was also featured on the back page of the newspaper with the headline “The New King” along with an accompanying text in Punjabi, which read Navam Raja.
I’ve never seen this before! pic.twitter.com/WiMlJ0WPON
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) November 12, 2024
Adelaide-based The Advertiser, which is also part of the News Corp Australia group that owns The Daily Telegraph, featured similar pages for Kohli and Jaiswal.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA lot of @imVkohli in the Australian papers this morning as is the norm whenever India are in town but never expected to see Hindi and Punjabi appearing in the Adelaide Advertiser. Tells you about the magnitude of the #AusvInd series for Australia & cricket in this country pic.twitter.com/I5B2ogPvEJ
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 12, 2024
It’s interesting to note that despite the Indian team being led by Rohit Sharma, who’s also a modern-day batting great, the Australian media chose to splash Kohli on their front pages while highlighting Rohit’s opening partner Jaiswal as his heir apparent.
Kohli first to reach Australia
Senior batter Kohli, meanwhile, was the first member of the Indian squad to arrive in Australia ahead of what will be India’s five-match series Down Under in more than three decades.
Kohli, who had captained India to their first-ever Test series win on Australian soil in the 2018-19 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, arrived in Perth on Sunday evening, well before the first batch of players were to arrive from Mumbai.
The Indian No 4 was spotted at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport with actor wife Anushka Sharma and their two kids on Saturday night. The first batch of the Indian contingent flying to Perth via Singapore comprised Shubman Gill, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar, Jaiswal and Mohammad Siraj with assistant coach Abhishek Nayar accompanying them.
The remaining players with the exception of captain Rohit and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah left on Monday with under-fire head coach Gautam Gambhir facing tough questions from reporters in the pre-departure press conference in the morning.
**Also Read | Gambhir Press Conference: 5 takeaways as India coach accepts criticism, discusses BGT plans**Bumrah was spotted at the airport later in the day while Rohit is expected to miss the Perth Test , reportedly due to the birth of his second child.
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