India stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah heaped high praise on star batter Virat Kohli after the crushing victory over Australia in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth on Monday.
The Indian side arrived in Australia on the back of a humiliating 3-0 home series defeat to New Zealand.
Moreover, their captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Shubman Gill were not available for the first Test. In their absence, India were bundled for a meagre 150 runs in the first innings.
However, Bumrah led the team’s remarkable comeback as they booked Australia to 104 to take a 46-run lead.
India declared their second innings after posting a massive 487-6, setting Australia a mountainous 534-run target. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli struck dominant centuries to set up the mammoth total.
Kohli walked out to bat on the third day carrying the weight of four single-digit scores in his last five innings and a 16-month century drought. He last scored a century during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 semi-final against New Zealand.
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However, he displayed a masterclass in strokeplay, marking his return to form with an unbeaten knock of 100 runs off 143 balls, laced with eight boundaries and two sixes.
In response, Australia crumbled to 238 all out in the final session on day four against an inspired attack led by the irrepressible Jasprit Bumrah, who took 3-42 to claim eight wickets in the match.
Bumrah praised Jaiswal and Kohli highly while talking to the media after the victory. He termed Jaiswal’s knock against Australia as the best innings by the young batter.
“[Yashasvi] Jaiswal has had a great start to his Test career. This was his best Test innings probably. He has an attacking nature, but he left the ball well and played long,” Bumrah stated.
The star bowler praised Kohli and asserted he was not out of form, explaining that a batter’s form cannot be judged on challenging batting wickets.
“I didn’t see him [Virat Kohli] out of form at all. On challenging wickets, it’s hard to judge if a batsman is in form. He was looking good in the nets,” he concluded.
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