Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Why King Kohli is still the cynosure in Australian media | Opinion

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For Virat Kohli fans, many based in Australia, plenty living in Pakistan, and millions left, still in India, there is an intense craving the former India captain explodes into form once the BGT Series begins in Perth on November 22.

Since the time King Kohli landed in Perth, he is centre-stage, he is cynosure and the hype around him is enormous.

Sample this, one of the leading Aussie newspapers brings out a full supplement on the series and it features Kohli on the cover, with headlines in English and Hindi. Even today (November 20) morning, an Aussie newspaper has featured Kohli as the main visual on front page.

Plenty of cynics in India plus trolls may laugh at the importance being given to Kohli, since he is past prime, he cannot score runs, he has lost form. Worse, the number of analysis which have been done on Kohli resemble a post-mortem, usually performed after an unnatural death. Kohli is still alive, healthy, and puts a price on his own wicket.

By all accounts from Perth, where the Australian media is also focusing on him intensely, the glare on Kohli is interesting. This does not put pressure on Kohli, since he has been facing that now for decades.

There is a romantic interlude between Kohli and Australia on many counts. This is his fifth tour Down Under, and his last, perhaps. At the same time, what people have not forgotten is, Kohli has not forgotten batting. If someone is putting out simulations and a video Kohli does not know where his off-stump is, that is laughable.

Did he score all the runs in his international career, across formats, without knowing where his off-stump is? More hilarious, for those who say Kohli does not know how to play spin, the former India captain must be himself chuckling.

Yes, it was a national embarrassment of sorts when India lost the three-Test series to New Zealand. It was a massive defeat and the shrill cry to ask Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma to pack up was a joke. It is, as if, India has half a dozen Test batters ready to replace them.

No, Kohli is not in the team due to some largesse from the selectors. They feel, coach Gautam Gambhir included, KohIi can still come good. There are so many memories of Kohli from Australia and how he was handed over captaincy in the middle of a series by MS Dhoni, almost a decade back. There are also memories of previous campaigns in Tests as well as the ODI World Cup, involving Kohli, Down Under.

And for those who think this will be a make or break series for Kohli in Australia, that's untrue. He will get pilloried by trolls, some who are professional writers as well in India, be it in English or Hindi.

This is going to be a long series and at least in a physical sense, Kohli will be fit to last it physically and mentally. And that is why the Aussies are hyping him sky high. Surely, Aussies know their cricket well enough to realise a few big knocks from Kohli can be defining in this BGT Series. The focus on Kohli will increase over the next two days as well.

Do not forget he has been an integral member of the side, a former India captain who had instilled the winning mentality well before Sourav Ganguly had started 'playing games.' The less said, the better, about that dirty chapter in Indian cricket.