Not a day passes by without someone talking about Virat Kohli’s planned paternity leave. Perhaps it is to be expected because the Indian sk...
Not a day passes by without someone talking about Virat Kohli’s planned paternity leave. Perhaps it is to be expected because the Indian skipper’s absence from that batting line-up is a hole that cannot easily be filled.
The Indian skipper averages 53.62 after 86 Tests and by sheer force of personality, he can often change the course of a Test match. His record in Australia is very good too – in 12 Tests Down Under, he has scored 1274 runs including six hundreds at an average of 55.39. Take him out of the line-up and there is a space that Australia’s bowlers will be happy to exploit.
Indeed, the question on everybody’s mind is whether India, without Kohli (who will return from the tour after the first Test at Adelaide), still has a chance of winning the Test series in Australia.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, for one, believes the other Indian batsmen will rise to the occasion.
“If you actually have a look, India have won every time Virat wasn’t there, be it the Dharamshala Test against Australia, the Afghanistan Test, Nidahas Trophy or the Asia Cup in 2018,” Gavaskar told The Times of India. “Indian players do tend to raise their game when he is not around. They...