Virat Kohli looks to break Sachin Tendulkar's record in Boxing Day Test against Australia
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Virat Kohli enjoys playing Test cricket. As he steps onto the field for the big match on December 26th against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series, he aims to chase a special record that was set by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
India and Australia are competing directly against each other in the fourth test of their series in Melbourne. Since the series is tied at 1-1, whoever takes this match at the MCG could end up becoming the champion. At the same time, Kohli, who's essentially a cricket hero in India, is trying to become the title for scoring the most runs by an Indian at the MCG a record that currently belongs to Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli must obtain 134 more runs to beat the record. Recently, he's made 316 runs in six innings at the MCG, which is very good since his average is 52.66. But Tendulkar is still the top person since he obtained 449 runs in 10 innings there.
Best Indian Performers at the MCG (by Runs)
| Rank | Player | Runs | Matches | Innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 449 | 5 | 10 |
| 2 | Ajinkya Rahane | 369 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | 316 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Virender Sehwag | 280 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | Rahul Dravid | 263 | 4 | 8 |
In this series, Kohli's had some rough moments and some good ones too. He secured a century in Perth during his second time to bat, but for the other four times he was up, he only managed to get 26 runs. His leaving has worried some fans, especially since he's been tricked by balls going far away from the wicket or has had trouble with very high throws.
Now, with the games happening in Melbourne, he's determined to try harder and do significantly better.
Allan Border, the ex-captain of the Australian cricket team and a World Cup winner noted Kohli's performance. Border spoke after the first innings of the third Test at the Gabba on Fox Cricket. Border mentioned that Kohli might not be playing his best today. Border pointed out, Normally, he would not bother with that sort of ball when he's really playing well. Then he added, I'm not sure if he's essentially lost that mental sharpness.
A cricket legend, Sunil Gavaskar, discussed Kohli getting out of the game on Channel 7. Gavaskar simply said, 'It might've made sense if the ball was close to the stumps but no, it was extremely far, hitting around the seventh or eighth stump. Kohli truly did not need to swing at that.' Gavaskar is also one of the men the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is named after, critiquing Kohli's shot in the Gabba match.