Cricket probably doesn’t owe Virat Kohli anything. It has given him riches beyond imagination, influence beyond reason, recognition that has built into idolatry. But then, he has given cricket riches, both in the literal cash churned from his name and the intangible of what his story has added to the game. So if the game owed him anything, perhaps it was a lucky break, one generous chance at a century to ease the tension of a lean 18 months without one. Walking out with India two wickets down, 321 runs ahead, with Yashasvi Jaiswal immaculately set on 141 and Australia already wheezing, the game delivered one.
The third day of this first Test saw the real Perth appear. Not the mild impostor of the two days prior, with their gentle temperatures and occasional cloud. By the middle of day three, even in the shade, the heat buffeted up against you like a herd of cattle jostling through a gate. Horrible stuff to bowl in, more horrible still for players who knew they had let a match slip with a bad batting hour of their own.
When Kohli was called upon to face second ball after lunch, the Australians were already in their 85th over. They had removed the asphyxiating presence of KL Rahul, but Devdutt Padikkal kept up the squeeze. Jaiswal had raised his ton with an uppercut six but otherwise was happy to keep playing percentages. Sure, Australia had the brief benefit of a new ball, but the overnight lead of 218 might already have been enough, so 321 by lunch looked to have moved the target towards impossibility.
When Padikkal edged Josh Hazlewood to slip first ball after the break, the clock and the sun had moved past 1pm. Even with no heat in the match, there was heat in the ground: the Australians were in the middle of a frying pan. But there is always the heat of being Kohli, the player who fans most want to see succeed. There is the want, the expectation. The big Indian contingent in the stands celebrated his first run, a tap to cover, then cooed a quality drive through mid off for three. After a run of low scores and some early rumblings about whether his occupancy in the team was expiring, this innings still mattered.
Kohli set about it as though it did, seeing off that new ball, stretching forward to knock the ball into gaps, taking on the fielders. Ducking a bouncer, stretching forward to drive through cover, three that would have skated for four if not for this terminally slow outfield. Making up for it with a rifled straight drive, Pat Cummins looking as flat as he has ever looked.
With Jaiswal’s score soon topping 150 just as each of his previous three centuries have done, the line of succession was clear. Think generational Indian talents in their first Perth Test. Sachin Tendulkar’s teenage ton at the Waca in 1993, arching his back to carve the quicks. Kohli’s first Waca visit in 2012 didn’t get the milestone, but he top scored in both innings, last man out for 75 after teammates fell around him. He did get a ton in his first game at the new Perth stadium in 2018, a top-tier 123 on the spiciest track the ground has yet seen. Now comes Jaiswal: a first-innings duck, a second-innings hunt.
What stood out from a young player was his concentration, over seven hours at the crease. He is so much more than an IPL hitter. That’s why England opener Ben Duckett was so tone deaf when suggesting that his team’s attacking cricket had “inspired” Jaiswal during their recent series. Jaiswal left home at 12 to live in a tent and work in street markets to fund his training, playing every format available to rise up to Mumbai state ranks before the IPL. English parents would be arrested if they allowed their child to try that. At 22, Jaiswal already has lifetimes more experience than cosetted players of some other countries ever will.
There have been 1,032 players to visit Australia and bat in Test cricket. Jaiswal is the 35th to make a hundred in their first match in this country. He is something else: a youthful face, an ancient hunger. He looked born to play in Perth, relishing the bounce, the chance to play off the back foot in his unusual style, using an almost straight bat to flash through point, or uppercutting over the cordon with a sabre show.
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And when he was out, with Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel following in short order, that let Kohli switch from quiet partner to charismatic lead. He put on 89 with Washington Sundar, 77 with Nitish Reddy. The roar for the half-century was huge, let alone the build to the hundred. Kohli didn’t slow down though, slog-sweeping and reversing Nathan Lyon. After a finer sweep on 96 and a boundary dive, there was a very human moment, Kohli craning his neck to see the umpire, unsure if it had been signalled four. Don’t worry, you’ve got it.
So the declaration, then Jasprit Bumrah devastating another top order late in a day: 534 to win, Australia 12 for three. To a point, Kohli’s were junk runs, but they were runs that left Australia more and more deeply cooked, a stew left on simmer until every recognisable component of meat or vegetable has broken down into swirls of bubbling mush. They were runs that left India revelling in a talisman coming good. Runs unneeded in this match might yet matter in the series, if this innings gets Kohli purring for closer contests.
And while Kohli is not done yet, they were runs that might inform the handover to his protege. If Jaiswal is hungry, he could yet learn from the lean old wolf. Sprinting singles in the heat, concerned with meeting a standard more than the score. Piling into Marnus Labuschagne’s short balls, no hesitation whistling boundaries from a part-timer. Ruthless, as his team was. With India 453 runs ahead, Kohli argued with the umpire about a wide.
