The crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad turned out to be lucky as they witnessed Virat Kohli‘s most-awaited 28th Test ton during India’s fourth Test against Australia. The Star India batter touched the triple figures in the longest format after a hiatus of three years. Kohli, who earlier recovered from his lean patch in the T20I format with a fiery century against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup, brought up his 75th international ton on Sunday. The 34-year-old batter, who smashed 186 runs in the fourth Test, initially struggled to get a big score in the first three matches of the four-match series.
Veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that he had a conversation with Kohli after India’s loss in the third Test in Indore, where the former India skipper was dismissed for 22 and 13.
“Personally, Virat and I had a conversation after the Indore Test. Not that we both connect too often on such lines but I just personally felt that Virat was batting well,” said Ashwin on Star Sports after Day 5 of the fourth Test.
“He was getting time and was probably just getting out after getting starts, in the 30s and 40s. It was just about putting your hands around the shoulder and telling the person that you are batting brilliantly, just need to hang in there and things are going to turn around. It has turned for me in my cricketing career as well so, I felt a big knock (from Kohli) was around the corner,” he added.
Ashwin went on to praise Kohli for his heroics in the T20Is against Sri Lanka, where he smashed two centuries in three matches. He also said the Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara are plus points for India in the upcoming matches.
“Even in the ODI series before this, Virat played some wonderful knocks. He is batting well. It is a question of having him and Pujji batting well together which gives us a lot of advantage. One can eat up the balls while the other has a real presence,” said Ashwin.
“After playing for so many years I know that runs on board are really important and these two players are our top Test batsmen. Our runs are running come from there so I would do anything to sit and watch them bat all day,” he added.
Talking about the fourth Test, Australia were 175 for 2 in 78.1 overs in their second innings when the players from the two teams decided to shake hands. Marnus Labuschagne (63) and Steve Smith (10) were at the crease when both Australian and Indian skippers agreed on not playing the full quota of the overs for the day.
India sealed their place in the final of the World Test Championships after Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand by two wickets in the Christchurch Test. Sri Lanka needed to win both their matches against the Kiwis to have any chance of making the WTC final and India will face Australia in summit clash.
(With PTI Inputs)
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