Virat Kohli has always relished playing in Australia, where he enjoys a great record in Test cricket.
His batting may have suffered a sharp dip in form in the last few years, but Kohli remains one of India's key players as they chase a third consecutive Test series win Down Under.
The 36 year old boasts of a stellar record in Australia, having scored 1,352 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 54, with six hundred and four fifties.
Among those his century in the Perth Test during the 2018-2019 series is rated by many as his finest, which Kohli also acknowledges as his best in Australia.
Kohli, who was leading India on that tour, stroked a magnificent 123 runs from 257 balls, registered his sixth Test hundred on Australian soil to equal Sachin Tendulkar's record.
Kohli was going through a dream run with the bat, scoring centuries at will as he averaged 50-plus between 2016 and 2019. He went on register his name in the record books as the second-quickest batter in Test history to score 25 Test hundreds (in 127 innings) after Sir Donald Bradman's 68 innings.
After Australia had put up 326 in their first innings, Kohli single-handedly kept India afloat with a brilliant century. He put on 74 runs for the third wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara, before he added another 91 runs for the fourth wicket with Ajinkya Rahane to help India get to 283.
'My best knock in Australia is definitely my hundred at Perth in the 2018/19 series that I played. I thought that was the toughest pitch I played on in Test cricket. It was great to get a 100 on that wicket,' Kohli said in a video posted by BCCI on X.
Even though India went down by 146 runs after they collapsed for 140 in their second innings, Kohli's masterful hundred was rated one of his best knocks in Test cricket.
However, since 2020, he has found it tough with the bat in Test cricket, scoring just 1,838 runs in 34 Tests at an average of 31, with only two centuries and nine fifties.
In the two home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Kohli managed just 192 runs in 10 innings at an average of 21, with one fifty.
As India kick off their campaign in Perth on Friday, Kohli will hope to take inspiration from his heroics in 2018 to not only rekindle his batting form but also play a pivotal role for his team.
