As India begins its Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Friday against Australia at the Optus Stadium, a lot of attention will be paid to the away side’s batting fares.
India might start with a new-look batting line-up with Devdutt Padikal, Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy set to get the nod.
On the back of a poor outing at home against New Zealand and several absentees in the lead-up to the opening Test, Virat Kohli will be expected to shoulder the burden of India’s inexperienced batting.
Kohli himself has been having a sub-par run with the bat this year with 250 runs at an average of 22.72.
But Indian fans will hope the 35-year-old can replicate his numbers from his last outing at the same venue in Tests.
When India toured Australia in 2018-19, Kohli scored 123 and 17 in two innings in what was the first-ever game at the stadium. India, however, went on to lose the Test by 146 runs.
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His only other score at the Optus Stadium was his 12 against South Africa in the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Kohli has had a good run in the city at the Perth Stadium before 2018, when he scored 44 and 75 in what was an otherwise disastrous tour for India in 2011-12.
In the ODIs, he has scored 242 runs in five innings at an average of 60 at the Perth Stadium.