As India take on Australia in a five-match Test series, star batter Virat Kohli will look to break multiple records during the tour. The former India captain will also look to make amends after a disastrous home Test series against New Zealand. Kohli needs 458 runs during the five-match series to become India’s all-time leading run scorer in Tests at Australia. By doing so, Kohli would surpass batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who toured Australia for the final time during the 2011-12 series. Kohli currently has 1,352 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 54.08, needing 458 more to dethrone Sachin at the top.
Tendulkar played 20 away Tests against Australia, scoring a massive 1809 runs with an impressive average of 53.20. Kohli is the also the joint leader in terms of centuries scored by an Indian batter in Australia, alongside Sachin.
So far, he has scored 6 Test centuries, the same as Tendulkar. Kohli will also have the chance to break this record in the five Test series.
In the lead up to the 1st Test, Kohli has dominated the headlines in Australian media. Even the opposition players have spoken highly of the former India captain.
However, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has now joked he will shoulder charge Kohli whenever he scores 30.
“I think I’m going to shoulder charge him when he gets to 30, just take him out,” Marsh told Fox Cricket ahead of the 1st Test.
Meanwhile, pacer Mitchell Starc, who played with Kohli for two seasons in the IPL with RCB, suggested he has no such plans to sledge with talisman batter.
“I got to play alongside Virat for a couple of years in the IPL, so I got to know him off the field a bit and I have always enjoyed the battles together. But I don’t think it’s like him or I have cracks back or forth. It’s more about the cricket and enjoying the contest. So he’s not someone I have riled up or tried to rile up. You just have to try and let the cricket do the talking,” Starc added.