Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden backed the out-of-form Virat Kohli to do well in the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. However. the Australian legend said that Kohli’s past performances in the country will have no bearing on his batting in the upcoming series as well. Notably, Virat Kohli has been going through a rough patch and he had his worst series in India’s most recent 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home, averaging under 16 across six innings as well.

Speaking in a media interaction hosted by Cricket Australia, Hayden was quoted as saying by India Today: “There is lots for Virat to play for… Unfortunately, he can’t carry his immense performances from any season into this one because it’s a different one. It’s a new one. Now he starts with his average of zero and an aggregate of zero.”

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“We all know that he’s capable of averaging beyond 50, and he’s the most unsound for his country in the past, second beyond Sachin Tendalkar, but gee, it’s up to him…I wish him all the best because in Australia, we want to see Virat Kohli against arguably the best attack that Australian cricket has had in the history of the game,” he added.

Matthew Hayden also believes that Virat Kohli’s importance to the team cannot be judged only by his batting but also by the other things, like fitness and belief, he adds to the team with his presence as well. Moreover, Kohli became the first-ever Indian captain to lead his side to a Test series win in Australia in the 2018-19 tour.

“Naturally, there’s got to be that hunger which Virat always brings to any kind of contest and there’s none bigger throughout the course of Test match cricket history. He’s on a side that’s dominated Australia in their own backyard now for almost a decade and that’s an important factor in a place where he’s worked really hard. A lot of his influence on the game can be seen not just with bat in hand but also the belief in the contest, the belief in his own fitness levels,” Matthew Hayden concluded.