Indian batter Virat Kohli made an excellent return to form during the IND vs AUS 1st Test played at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Kohli who has been among the biggest match winners for the India national cricket team didn’t score a single hundred in international cricket in the year 2024. The Indian team registered a brilliant 295-run victory over Australia in the IND vs AUS 1st Test wherein the visitors showcased a complete team performance. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar compared Virat Kohli with Tennis legends such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
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Sunil Gavaskar Draws Virat Kohli’s Comparison With Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic And Roger Federer
Speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar stated that whenever Tennis players such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are title winners and if they fail to qualify for final or semi-final, the fans consider them out of form. Similar is the case with Virat Kohli, wherein the fans are used to of seeing Virat scoring hundreds and troll him when he gets out in the 70s, 80 or 90s.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “It’s like I said in commentary that Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafa Nadal, they are title winners. If they lose in the semi-finals, people say, ‘Oh, they’re not in form.’ Anybody else getting into the semi-finals, you would say, ‘Oh, what a wonderful performance‘.”
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Sunil Gavaskar added, “Similarly, with Virat Kohli, because everybody is so used to him scoring so many hundreds quite regularly, when he doesn’t score 100, even if he’s getting 70-80—which a lot of guys will be very happy to get—people say, ‘Look, he’s not scoring runs.’ And that is the reason why there was that feeling. But then again, Indian fans, they’re greedy fans. They’re not going to be happy with their idol scoring only 60-70s. They want their icons, their idols, to score hundreds, and that is the reason there was this little talk about, ‘Oh, he hasn’t got a hundred since July 2023.’ July 2023 is just about a year ago.”
Virat Kohli has always brought out his best whenever the latter has played in Australia. Kohli has gained a decent momentum with the bat and he will look forward on repeating the same when he plays in the second Test match set to be played at the Adelaide Oval ground in Adelaide from December 6.