The Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins this Friday with the Perth Test. This five-match series is crucial for both Australia and India in their bid to secure a spot in the World Test Championship final. For Virat Kohli, who has been going through a rough patch with the bat, the series is even more important.
Indian fans would surely be hoping to see Kohli’s bat firing as they aim for a third consecutive Test series win in Australia. If Kohli scores a century in this series, he will surpass his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, in one key area.
Both Tendulkar and Kohli have six centuries each on Australian soil in Test matches, which is the highest by any Asian batsman. A century in any of the Tests in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, or Sydney would see Kohli break the record and claim it for himself.
This will be Kohli’s fifth tour of Australia for Test cricket. In his previous four tours, he played 13 Tests and 25 innings, scoring 1,352 runs with six centuries. Tendulkar, on the other hand, scored his six centuries in 20 Tests and 38 innings.
Kohli made his debut in Australia in 2011. He featured in all 12 Tests from the 2011-12 season to the 2018-19 season. However, in the 2020-21 season, he returned home after the first Test in Adelaide to be with his wife Anushka Sharma for the birth of their first child, Vamika. Had he played the last three Tests of that series, he might have already surpassed Tendulkar in the number of centuries in Australia.
Top 5 Indian Batsmen with Test Centuries in Australia:
- 6 centuries | Virat Kohli | 25 innings
- 6 centuries | Sachin Tendulkar | 38 innings
- 5 centuries | Sunil Gavaskar | 19 innings
- 4 centuries | VVS Laxman | 29 innings
- 3 centuries | Cheteshwar Pujara | 21 innings
Kohli, with six centuries, is tied for third in the list of visiting batsmen with the most centuries in Australia. Sir Jack Hobbs leads with nine centuries, followed by Wally Hammond with seven. Herbert Sutcliffe also has six centuries, just like Kohli and Tendulkar. Hobbs, Hammond, and Sutcliffe played in the early 20th century and had more opportunities to play Tests in Australia.
It’s natural that Australian batsmen would top the list of most centuries in Australia. Ricky Ponting leads with 41 Test centuries, 23 of which came on home soil. Among current Australian players, Steven Smith holds the record with 16 centuries at home. Given that Smith is now over 35, it seems unlikely that anyone will surpass Ponting’s tally in the near future.
However, if Kohli scores two more centuries in this series, he will overtake Ponting for the most centuries in Australia-India Test series on Australian soil. Ponting scored seven centuries in 15 Tests against India at home.
Kohli also has the chance to surpass Ponting on the list of top run-scorers in Australia-India Tests. Tendulkar holds the record with 3,630 runs, while Ponting is second with 2,555. Kohli has accumulated 2,042 runs, meaning he needs 514 more runs in the next five Tests to pass Ponting.
Top 5 Batsmen with Test Centuries in Australia (Visiting Teams):
- 9 centuries | Sir Jack Hobbs | England
- 7 centuries | Wally Hammond | England
- 6 centuries | Virat Kohli | India
- 6 centuries | Herbert Sutcliffe | England
- 6 centuries | Sachin Tendulkar | India
Under Kohli’s captaincy, India became the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia in the 2019-20 season. His leadership also helped India reach the final of the first cycle of the World Test Championship. Kohli has the potential to become the first Indian batsman to score 3,000 runs in the Test Championship, needing 573 more runs against Australia to reach this milestone.
However, Kohli’s recent form with the bat has been a concern. In his last 10 innings, he has scored only 192 runs, with just one half-century. Thus, breaking records or achieving milestones in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy seems a tough challenge at the moment.
But then again, Kohli is Kohli. He is known for not giving up easily, and his commitment was evident during the practice session at Perth’s Optus Stadium. Despite rain forcing others to seek shelter, Kohli continued batting in the nets, only leaving when the heavy downpour became unavoidable.
