The legendary Australian pacer Brett Lee reckons that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli will have a blockbuster summer in Australia, disagreeing with amateur pacer Pat Cummins. Last week Cummins predicted Kohli would not score a century across India’s four Tests in Australia this summer, backing the hosts to keep him quiet.
However, Lee is expecting Kohli to continue where he left off from India’s 2014-15 tour of Australia, where he scored as Kohli scored four centuries across four Tests with a tally of 692 runs at 86.50, taking his average to 62.00 in Australia. The numbers suggest it was a crucial summer for Kohli in his Test career. Ahead to the start of the series, his average sat at a modest 39.46, with 1855 runs and six centuries to his name from 29 Tests. He has hit five tons and scored 3699 runs at 64.89 in his 37 Tests since.
Virat’s only drop in his career since then came against Australia when he amassed just 46 runs at 9.20 across three Tests in the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Test series in India. Lee does not expect Kohli to fluff his lines again.
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Talking about Kohli, as quoted in foxsports.com.au, Lee said, “Kohli has a lot to prove and he will prove this year why he’s so good. Kohli will have a massive year this year. I think he will get hundreds because I’ve never seen a guy so hungry.”
Despite backing Kohli to enjoy a memorable series, Lee reckons that Australia should be the more confident of the two teams given India’s dire record in the country. He said, “India hasn’t had a great record here in the past two series they’ve played. Australia can tap into that…India has got their work cut out. The Australian bowling holds the key. I’ve always said that you win by taking 20 wickets, and we’ve got the bowlers who can do that.”
India will begin its two-month tour of Australia with a three-match T20I series beginning on November 21, before the Test series kicks off at Adelaide Oval on December 6. The tour will conclude on January 18 after the last of three ODIs.
