Indian batting icon Virat Kohli arrived at Perth on Sunday evening in order to compete in the five-match Test series between India and Australia. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will begin on the 22nd of November, 2024, in Perth and will be followed by four further matches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Due to the immense popularity of Kohli in Australia, it was not surprising that he became the first Indian player to touch down in the country ahead of the much-anticipated Test series, and his arrival to Aussie shores was publicized quite some. Many foremost Australian publications validly consigned Kohli’s front-page news as the title of his ‘saw the yellow guide off’ in the capital city of western Australia apart from the fact that it was accompanied with all Hindi and Punjabi fonts on the papers being presented.
The Australian press’s gesture utterly shocked all, and images of the said newspaper cover pages by Indian fans had found their way to the various social media handles.
In the viral images, there is a clipping of a paper that has the words “Yugon ki ladai (Fight for the ages)” as its headline. That particular paper also had a piece in Punjabi about India’s top Test batter Yashasvi Jaiswal. The primary text was: ‘Navam Raja’ ‘the new king’.
Although Kohli has been to Australia in the capacity of the Indian Test team on four occasions in the past, Jaiswal, who only made his Test bow in July 2023, will be up against the Baggy greens for the very first time in his young career. The 22-year-old southpaw is likely to play a big role for the visitors, and as such, there will be pressure on his shoulders after he scored a whopping 712 runs in five Tests played against England earlier this year.
The Indian team will practice at the WACA in Perth for the next one week for acclimatisation purposes of both the teams and analyse pitches and conditions. The series opener will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth from November 22 and India will also participate in a warm-up match against Prime Ministers XI in Canberra after a day’s gap before their Pink ball Test match which will be held at Adelaide Oval from 6th December to 10th December.