Rahul Dravid noted that Virat Kohli performed well during the South Africa tour last year, which was Dravid’s last Test series as head coach.
Rahul Dravid believes Virat Kohli might have a bada (big) series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, especially after Kohli ended his bad form in Tests with a shatak (century) in Perth. Kohli scored 100 not out off 143 balls. With Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 161 runs (297 balls) and KL Rahul’s 77 runs (176 balls), India set a bada target of 534 runs for Australia. India won by a huge margin of 295 runs—sabse bada jeet (biggest victory) in Test cricket in Australia.
Dravid, who left the head coach role after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, is now working with Rajasthan Royals. He said Kohli had batted well in his last Test series as coach.
The final series under Dravid was against South Africa, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Kohli scored 76 runs off 82 balls in the second innings when India collapsed for 131. Only Shubman Gill managed double digits apart from Kohli, scoring 26 runs.
Dravid said on Star Sports, “Woh tab bhi achha khel raha tha (he was playing well), even in South Africa a few months ago on tough wickets. It’s good he got a hundred at the start of the series. I think he will have a bada series (big series).”
Virat Kohli’s 30th Test Century
The shatak (century) in Perth made Kohli the fourth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sunil Gavaskar to reach 30 Test tons. The 34-year-old came into the series after poor form in five home Tests. He scored 70 in the second innings against New Zealand but then got out for 1, 17, 4, and 1, leading to India’s 3-0 giraavt (loss).
Kohli then scored only 5 runs in Perth’s first innings, where India collapsed for 150 runs. However, stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah took 5 wickets to dismiss Australia for 104. Jaiswal and Rahul added a 201-run bhaari jod (partnership) to put India in a strong position. Kohli then partnered with Washington Sundar (89 runs) to stop a mini-collapse and ended the innings with a fast 77-run stand with Nitish Reddy. Kohli shifted to aggressive batting towards the end to complete his shatak (century), helping India bowl to Australia on Day 3.
