It was raining in Perth last Wednesday. Virat Kohli was practicing even in the rain. He stopped batting when the rain drops became large and heavy. Well, this is just an incident. Virat Kohli has been doing such things before also. But this time there are many reasons why he is being discussed more. First of all, Virat Kohli has a special relationship with Australia. He has performed brilliantly in Australia. He has scored more runs in Australia than his average in his Test career. He also has 6 test centuries in his account in Australia. But his recent form is going bad. He scored a total of 93 runs in 6 innings of three matches of the home Test series against New Zealand. In this also he scored 70 runs in a single innings. He did not even reach double figures in four innings.

His role has increased in the absence of captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma is not available for the Perth test match. He will join the team for the next test match. You remember the 2023 World Cup… Remember the 2024 T20 World Cup, the pair of Rohit and Virat have played a big role. Once again, this pair's shine in this difficult tour will become the strength of the Indian team. Another aspect is that Virat Kohli has turned 36 this month. That means it can be assumed that this is the last Border Gavaskar Trophy of his career. Because of all these aspects, the eyes of cricket fans are fixed on Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli has a special relationship with Perth

It was about 13 years ago. Virat Kohli's Test career had just started. He was 'struggling' in West Indies. Fidel Edwards had troubled him. Fidel Edwards had dismissed Virat Kohli in three out of four innings of the first two Test matches. Virat was finding it difficult to try to drive while standing at his place. After West Indies, the Indian team had a tour of Australia. Virat Kohli's bat did not work in the first two test matches played in Melbourne and Sydney. That means now a total of 6 test matches had taken place and Virat Kohli had only one half-century to count.

The big thing was that Yuvraj Singh was out of the team. Suresh Raina had scored a century in his Test debut itself. After this he also scored two back to back half-centuries. Rohit Sharma was also in the race. That means there was constant pressure on Dhoni to start thinking ahead of Virat Kohli. But Dhoni kept Virat in the playing-11 even in the third test match. This third test match was played in Perth only. Virat Kohli scored 44 runs in the first innings and 75 runs in the second innings. He was the highest run scorer for India in both the innings. After this, in the next 10 test matches, Virat Kohli scored 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries. But if you ask those who keep an eye on Virat's career, they always mention the opportunity they got in the Perth Test because that Test match was like the turning point of Virat's career. Once again Virat Kohli is in Perth. Virat Kohli has also scored a brilliant century in Perth in 2018.

These 10 innings will decide the record book picture

This is the first time since 1991-92 that a five-Test series is being played between India and Australia. That means after more than three decades, a series in which players will get 10 innings. Cricket fans often raise some questions about Virat Kohli, for example - will Virat Kohli break Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 international centuries? Will Virat Kohli be able to complete 10000 runs in test cricket?

Exact answers to these questions will not be found, but these 10 innings will definitely indicate this. If Virat Kohli scores 2 centuries in this series, his number of centuries will increase to 82 and the hope of reaching 100 centuries will remain. Also, his total number of test runs will cross 9200. For a batsman like Virat Kohli, 2 centuries in 10 innings is not a big deal.

Virat's magic was visible from Perth

We had mentioned the 2012 Perth Test. After that, Virat Kohli scored 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries in 10 innings. What's more, Virat Kohli has played a total of 13 test matches in Australia. He has 6 centuries in his account in 13 test matches. But if Virat Kohli's bat misses, if his form against New Zealand continues for a long time, then the answer to these questions will be 'no'. Because Virat's age also has to be seen. Virat Kohli turned 36 this month. He has scored 80 centuries in 16 years from 2008 to 2024.

That is, if we do simple mathematics, he has scored 5 centuries every year. This also includes the time when cricket was put on pause due to Corona. Now even if Virat Kohli continues at this pace, he will need 4 more years to score 20 more centuries. Will Virat Kohli play till the age of 40? This seems difficult. It is important to discuss another possibility. If the Indian team wins the Border Gavaskar series, then it may also get a chance to play in the final of the World Test Championship. These opportunities can take Virat Kohli closer to reaching the mega-record.