“Don’t want Virat Kohli full of confidence” – Allan Border worried about Australia’s BGT chances

Only two visitors batters have scored more Test hundreds in Australia (Jack Hobbs 9 and Wally Hammond 7). The two English batters, however, played 10 and 5 more matches.

The last thing the Australian cricket team wanted was for Virat Kohli to return to form. Their tormentor Down Under since 2014, Kohli scored his 7th Test hundred in the nation in the India vs Australia 1st Test. He’d gotten out cheaply on the first try in Perth but hurt the Aussies on his second attempt, as the Indian cricket team went to win by a massive 295 runs.

Virat Kohli Perth turnaround

Former Australia captain Allan Border fears for what’s about to come now that Kohli’s back to form. Going through a slump, the Perth hundred was Kohli’s 2nd Test ton away from home since 2019. He was struggling at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand. He wasn’t looking confident in Perth either, but with India on top in the second innings, Kohli came to the crease looking confident and went on to score a sumptuous century.

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Cummins poor decision making

What Border was unhappy about was how easily Pat Cummins‘ team allowed Kohli to score a hundred. This was a criticism of Cummins’ captaincy, whereby many felt he didn’t take the game on. He chooses to play the waiting game, allowing not only Kohli but even Nitish Kumar Reddy to score quick runs in the second session.

Confident Kohli, dangerous

Border feels full of confidence Kohli can take the series away from Australia, especially now that Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are returning, which will strengthen the Indian team even more. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are already in form, and the Indian bowlers, especially Jasprit Bumrah, won’t be easy to tackle with the pink ball in Adelaide.

“I was really disappointed in the way we let Kohli roll on to a 100 without much resistance. We don’t want this guy full of confidence for the rest of the series,” Border told SEN 693.