IND vs AUS: Rishabh Pant Outperforms Virat Kohli
New Delhi : Virat Kohli’s poor run of form in Test matches continues unabated. In the first Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024, Virat was dismissed for just 5 runs. This year, he has managed only 255 runs in 13 innings, becoming a major concern for Team India. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has emerged as a star cricketer for India. He played a crucial knock of 35 runs in extremely challenging conditions. Pant has started to play the role that Virat Kohli once played.
Rishabh Pant played this 37-run innings in the Perth Test when India had lost 3 wickets for just 32 runs. He stayed at the crease for 78 balls and hit three fours and a six while scoring 37 runs. This is not the first time Pant has rescued Team India from a difficult situation. In the final match of the 2020-2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he played an 89-run innings at the Gabba, helping India win the series 2-1. His 97-run innings at the SCG is perhaps the best innings of his career so far.
From 2018 to 2024, Rishabh Pant has scored at an average of 63.40 in Australia. While it may be too early to compare him to Virat Kohli, it is clear that Pant is on a path to break many of Kohli’s records very soon.
Virat Kohli’s Stats in Australia
Virat Kohli has played 13 Test matches in Australia so far, scoring 1,352 runs in 13 innings. His average in Australia is 54.08, and he has scored 6 centuries and four fifties in the challenging conditions. In terms of average, Pant appears to be much better than Kohli.