Virat Kohli dominates Australian front pages on arrival; newspapers, media go desi with fonts in Hindi and Punjabi

There is no denying that Virat Kohli has been the face of Indian cricket despite having stepped down from captaincy three years back.

Hence, just like in the old times, he dominated the front pages of Australian newspapers upon his arrival in Perth on Sunday, two weeks before the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, the media sprung a surprise with fonts in Hindi and Punjabi in their publication.

The stance of the Australian media went viral on social media as Indian fans shared images of front page of the newspaper, bearing the face of Kohli, with the headline reading: “Yugon ki ladai (Fight for the ages).” The same newspaper also had a section in Punjabi, with an article on young India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The headline read: “Navam Raja (The new king).”

A new challenge awaits Virat Kohli

Kohli, who celebrated his 36th birthday exactly a week back, was the first of the Indian players to have arrived in Perth on Sunday. A separate batch of about five players left for Australia on Sunday, while the remainder, along with head coach Gautam Gambhir departed from Mumbai on Monday, following the end of the pre-series press conference. However, there is yet no confirmation on India captain Rohit Sharma’s availability for the series opener.

Kohli came under fire following a poor home-season run, which concluded with the series against New Zealand earlier this month, where India suffered a humiliating 0-3 whitewash. He scored just 93 runs at 15.50, his lowest average in a home series in the last seven years.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting reckoned that no top-order batter would have survived a run of just “two (three) Test hundreds in the last five years,” expressing concern over Kohli’s form. However, the former India captain was backed by Gambhir as the latter hit back at the Aussie.

“What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket and more importantly have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit. I think they are incredibly tough men. They’ve achieved a lot for Indian cricket and they will continue to achieve a lot in the future as well,” said Gambhir in press conference.

Despite Gambhir’s backing, another poor run could leave Kohli’s Test career in dire straits.