"His body was completely relaxed when he came into bat in the second innings" - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli's ton in 1st BGT 2024-25 Test
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons that Virat Kohli's body was completely relaxed when he came into bat in the second innings of the 1st 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth. The batting legend observed that the cricketer had made a slight adjustment to his stance to tackle the conditions.
India beat Australia by 295 runs in Perth to register their biggest Test win in Australia in terms of runs and take the 1-0 lead in the five-match series. While Kohli was dismissed for five in the first innings, he notched up an unbeaten 100 in the second essay, bringing up his 30 Test ton.
Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar pointed out that a subtle change in his batting technique aided Kohli in conquering the Aussie bowlers in Perth. He commented (as quoted by PTI):
"His body was completely relaxed when he came into bat in the second innings. In the first innings, because of the fact that India had lost two wickets early, he would have also been under pressure.
"In that second innings, you could sense apart from changing that stance, I think he also got his legs, which were maybe just a little bit wider at the start. Just a little bit, maybe I'm thinking too much, but that little thing might have given him that height he wanted. Well, in Australia, on the bouncier pitches, you need that edge," the 75-year-old went on to add.
Gavaskar picked a midwicket boundary that Kohli hit off Josh Hazlewood as one of the standout strokes in his knock. He elaborated:
"That, to me, was not the easiest of shots. A straight drive is a little easier because your stance is like that, but just to open up a little bit and play that - that was all magic."
Kohli struck eight fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 100, which came off 143 balls as India declared their second innings at 487-6.
Sunil Gavaskar compares Virat Kohli with tennis legends
Heading into the Perth Test, there was a lot of noise about the fact that Kohli had not scored a Test century since July 2023.
Gavaskar, however, downplayed all the chatter while making an interesting comparison between the Indian cricketer's poor form and the phase when tennis legends like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic did not win a title.
Gavaskar said:
"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'.
"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," he concluded.
Kohli's ton in Perth was his 81st in international cricket. Apart from 30 Test hundreds, he has a record 50 centuries in one-dayers and one in T20Is.