Former India captain Virat Kohli achieved a major milestone by crossing 25,000 runs in international cricket in the second Test against Australia in Delhi last month. As India take a 3-0 lead in the four-match Test series, Kohli will be playing his 200th international game at home when the third Test begins in Indore on Wednesday (March 1).
Kohli has occupied centre-stage in India’s dominance at home since entering the international cricket scene in 2008. So far in 199 matches at homeHe has scored 10,829 runs in 221 innings at an average of 58.22. He has scored 34 hundreds and 51 half-centuries at home, with a best score of 254 not out.
Ahead of his historic game, Kohli cited his wife and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma as his inspiration. Sharing how he draws inspiration from strength and Anushka’s journey of motherhood, Kohli said in the RCB Podcast, “I get a lot of inspiration from home. We have a child. Yes for parents but especially for a mother, it has been an incredibly life changing and transformational process. It is completely life changing for a mother. And how she has been so strong through it all and how she has been able to face all the challenges that come her way. And I’ve seen everything. I have seen change happening. It gave me so much strength and inspiration to say that what I am experiencing is not even 5 percent of what she went through.
“It’s selfless, it’s unconditional. You also need to keep things in the right perspective. You can’t put the issues that matter to you at the forefront and make them into something that you know is destructive.” going on, in which you realize that this is life. I play a game, this is my profession but when I see the change that has happened to him, that is life for me. It is too big and too far away for me I mean you can’t even put it in the same bracket. It’s not even comparable because it’s really your life being given to another life that has to grow up before you.”
Kohli and Anushka tied the knot in Italy on December 11 and are one of the most loved celebrity couples. The couple was blessed by Vamika on January 11, 2021.
Virat Kohli calls Anushka his ‘inspiration’
Reading @ANI Story | https://t.co/Osxryig3Of#Virat Kohli #Anushka Sharma #virushka #Vamika pic.twitter.com/6HLf1ckmNA— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) February 28, 2023
However this time around, the pressure will be on Kohli to perform as he has been struggling for runs in Test cricket since 2020. His numbers for 2020 (116 runs at 19.33 in three matches, one fifty in six innings), 2021 (536 runs at 28.21 in 11 matches, four fifties in 19 innings) and 2022 (265 in six matches) one half-century in 11 innings at an average of 26.50) is very low for someone of his stature.
Kohli looked in complete control during his short knocks of 44 and 20 in both the innings of the second Test in Delhi and Team India will be hoping that their biggest batsman ends his three-year drought of big runs, helping the team will also get a boost. India’s chances of qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship Finals to be played in London from June 7.
Kohli has scored 76 runs in three innings of this series at an average of 25.33. India will also aim to overcome the Australian challenge in Indore to win 3-0 and qualify for the WTC final. The Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman though hasn’t crossed 50 at home against Australia since 2013. In the last two series at home against the Aussies, he has scored 122 runs at just 15.25.