It’s just a few days before ace India batter Virat Kohli takes guard at the Optus Stadium in Perth in the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024. It will perhaps be the 36-year-old batter’s final trip to what is considered one of the most challenging frontiers in world cricket, and he will aim to bow out with a bang. But things will be easier said than done for him since he is going through a lean patch, so much so that a bad outing Down Under could mark the end of his Test journey. Only Kohli can prevent such a situation from occurring, and he will look to his past exploits in Australia to gain confidence.
Not much difference could be seen when one compares the trajectories of Kohli and another Indian run-machine who did exceedingly well in Australia, the great Sachin Tendulkar. The latter toured Australia five times between 1991-92 and 2011-12 and played 20 Tests in this period (which is more than half of his total appearances in Tests against the Kangaroos – 39). He scored 1,809 runs at an average of 53.20 with six centuries and seven half-centuries.
Looking at Tendulkar’s six Test tons in Australia
Out of the six tons that Tendulkar hit on Australian soil, two came in the 1991-92 and 2007-08 series and one each in the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 series. The highest remains 241 not out, which he made in Sydney in 2003-04 to hit form. The only tour in which he failed to pick a hundred was his final one in 2011-12, when 80 in Sydney was his best score.
In the matches where Tendulkar scored a century or double century, India could not win any, lost three, and drew three. He scored three centuries in Sydney (148 not out in 1991-92, 241 not out in 2003-04 and 154 not out in 2007-08) and one each in Perth (114 in 1991-92), Melbourne (116 in 1999-2000) and Adelaide (153 in 2007-08). India could never force a win in any of the series they played Down Under in Tendulkar’s time (the 1-1 draw in 2003-04 was the best).
In the 20 Test matches that Tendulkar played in Australia, India won two, lost 14, and drew four. The batter was India’s top run-getter in three out of five series.
While three of his centuries were unbeaten, Tendulkar fell against pacers in the remaining three three-figure knocks that he played – against Mike Whitney in Perth (1991-92), Damien Fleming in Melbourne (1999-2000) and Brett Lee in Adelaide (2008-08). He scored his six Test centuries in Australia at a strike rate of 69.48 (Sydney, 1991-92), 70.80 (Perth, 199-92), 60.73 (Melbourne, 1999-2000), 55.27 (Sydney, 2003-04), 63.37 (Sydney, 2007-08) and 74.63 (Adelaide, 2007-08).
The strike rates drive home the point that despite ageing, Tendulkar did not have a problem in scoring runs on fast Australian wickets swiftly. Overall, in these six three-figure knocks, the ace batter hit 99 boundaries and five sixes.
If we see the percentage of runs that Tendulkar scored for his team in the six three-figure knocks, they are 30.64 in Sydney (1991-92), 41.91 (Perth, 1991-92), 48.73 (Melbourne, 1999-2000), 34.18 (Sydney, 2003-04), 28.9 (Sydney, 2007-08) and 29.08 (Adelaide, 2007-08). Scoring one-third or half of the team’s totals meant how prolific a scorer Tendulkar was in Australia, despite the arrival of some established names in the later part of his career.
Add to that the kind of Australian attack he faced between 1991-92 and 2011-12, including Craig McDermott, Whitney, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Starc and others, one would agree that Tendulkar’s centuries in Australia were high-quality accomplishments even if they could not bring a win for India.
Analysing Kohli’s centuries in Australia
When we look at Kohli’s batting exploits in Australia, he played 13 matches Down Under between 2011 (Tendulkar’s final tour was his first) and 2020 and scored 1,352 runs at an average of 53.14. This is again more than half of his total number of Tests against Australia (25). Like Tendulkar, Kohli also has six hundreds against the Kangaroos in their backyard, coupled with four half-centuries.
Out of the six centuries, one came on his maiden trip in 2011-12 (it was the only century scored by an Indian batter on that tour, and Kohli’s arrival was confirmed, just like the 1991-92 series did for Tendulkar); four came in the 2014-15 series and one in the 2018-19 tour. Kohli’s highest Test score in Australia is 169, which he made in Melbourne in the 2014-15 series. The ace batter played only one Test in the 2020-21 series as he returned home for family reasons, handing over the captaincy to Ajinkya Rahane. India lost that Test in Adelaide after getting all out for 36 in the second innings, but Kohli was the top-scorer, scoring 74 in the first.
In the matches where Kohli hit a century in Australia, India could not win any. They lost three and drew two (Kohli scored centuries in both innings of a Test match in Adelaide, yet India lost). Kohli scored three centuries in Adelaide (116 in 2011-12 and 115 and 141 in 2014-15) and one each in Melbourne (169 in 2014-15), Sydney (147 in 2014-15) and Perth (123 in 2018-19). However, unlike Tendulkar, India won the series in Australia in 2018-19 under Kohli’s captaincy. Overall, in the 13 Test matches that Kohli played in Australia, India won two, lost eight, and drew three. Kohli was his side’s top run-getter in two of the four visits to Australia.
In the six three-figure knocks that he played Down Under, Kohli was dismissed by fast bowlers five times and once by a spinner. The bowlers were Ben Hilfenhaus in Adelaide (2011-12), Mitchell Johnson in Adelaide (2014-15) and Melbourne (2014-15); Nathan Lyon in Adelaide (2014-15), Ryan Harris in Sydney (2014-15) and Pat Cummins in Perth (2018-19). Kohli scored Test hundreds in Australia at a strike rate of 54.46 (Adelaide, 2011-12), 62.50 and 80.57 (Adelaide, 2014-15), 62.13 (Melbourne, 2014-15), 63.91 (Sydney, 2014-15) and 47.85 (Perth, 2018-19). He hit 90 fours and three sixes in all during these top knocks.
In terms of the percentage of runs that Kohli’s centuries constituted for his team in the innings, they are 42.64 (Adelaide, 2011-12), 25.90 and 44.76 (Adelaide, 2014-15), 36.34 (Melbourne, 2014-15), 30.94 (Sydney, 2014-15), and 43.46 (Perth, 2018-19).
Kohli did not face the likes of McDermott, Whitney, McGrath, Lee, Gillespie, Warne, and MacGill on wickets that were comparatively faster in Tendulkar’s time, but he certainly has a better pace of scoring centuries than his predecessor Down Under. With five more matches coming up, he has all the opportunity to not only better Tendulkar’s record but