Australia November 28, 2024 (Navroze Bureau)- India’s Virat Kohli is a global superstar. Wherever he goes, the public follows. In any country Kohli visits, he is embraced by millions, and when it’s Australia, the craze rises to another level. The moment Kohli landed on Australian shores for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was everywhere – from the billboards to the newspaper front pages. The Australian media even went desi for him, printing texts in Hindi. Kohli, in response, lived up to the euphoria, scoring a scintillating century in the second innings as India thrashed Australia to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
The stories of Kohli’s Perth epic are spreading like wildfire, reaching all the way to the Prime Minister’s office in Canberra. As the Indian team landed in the capital to play a three-day pink-ball Day-Night Test, the players met Anthony Albanese. However, as captain Rohit Sharma introduced his players one by one, starting with Jasprit Bumrah, Albanese had a special chat with Kohli, overshadowing the rest of the players present, including Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Albanese started off with Bumrah, complimenting him for his unique action. “Your style is very different from everyone. Great effort,” he said before the India pacer replied with a ‘Thank you’. Next in line was Kohli, and here is how their gem of a conversation flowed.
PM Albanese: “Good time in Perth. Bloody hell, as if we weren’t suffering enough at that point, that was just…”
Virat Kohli: “We’ve always got to add our own spice to it.”