The best of India in Australia, Part 4: Virat Kohli’s captaincy stint begins with iconic twin tons in Adelaide

For Australia, the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy holds a bittersweet spot in memory. Although it was full of memorable contests and performances, it came in the wake of Phillip Hughes’ untimely death, which shrouded the entire series in an air of tragedy.

In a fitting testimony to the life and career of Hughes, taken too soon from Australian cricket, the home team found an opponent which went toe-to-toe with them and brought out the best that they had to offer. For a country as fiercely competitive as Australia, it was undoubtedly a mark of mutual respect to bear witness to the arrival of Virat Kohli as captain, and shades of the all-time-great he was set to become.

With MS Dhoni ruled out of the first Test match in Adelaide due to an injury, Virat Kohli was handed the captaincy reins for the first time in the format. Three years on from the ageing team that had gotten hammered 4-0 in 2011-12, India had replaced the old guard of Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, and Laxman, and in came the new generation: Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, and Rohit, being led by their young captain.

A bad start, but a strong response…

India were hungry for a result to turn their fortunes in Australia around, but it was Australia who got off the stronger at the Adelaide Oval. Batting first, the hosts piled on 517 before declaring. David Warner, Michael Clarke, and Steve Smith all scored centuries — Smith would go on to have a monster series, scoring a ton in each of the four matches. India’s bowling just didn’t have answers.

In response, India had a solid start, reaching 111-2 when Kohli walked in to replaced half-centurion Murali Vijay. Kohli was dominant and fluent, looking confident, the pressures of captaincy sitting well on his shoulders. In an innings with 12 boundaries, Kohli drove and flicked his way to a strong 115, challenging the Australian bowlers. While Pujara and Rohit contributed strongly, and Ajinkya Rahane scored a 62 of his own, nobody was able to provide a second big score. India were bowled out on 444.

Kohli brilliance brings India close, but not close enough

Another David Warner century set India a fourth innings target of 364 — steep, but India were in the contest. Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara were out early, but Kohli was hungry. He dominated Australia’s spinners and pacers alike in as fine a fourth innings batting performance as one is likely to see, lightning-quick on his feet to get to the pitch, always looking to score runs, playing with the confidence and swagger that would come to define his captaincy.

He put on 185 runs with Murali Vijay, and India looked in a fantastic position with just about 120 runs needed with eight wickets in hand and time left in the day. Unfortunately, Vijay was dismissed after a fine 99, in which he played a patient second-fiddle as Kohli chipped away at the total.

It was the opening Australia needed, as Nathan Lyon ran through the middle order. Kohli was ultimately dismissed as he tried to up the ante while running out of partners at the other end. Ultimately, they were short by 48 runs — but it felt much, much tighter.

A generation-defining performance

Most importantly, Kohli’s twin tons sent a message that continues to reverberate through Australian cricket. Kohli was a player capable of creating a team in his image, ready to be aggressive and to fight toe-to-toe with Australia’s finest, a sentiment that would help Kohli put on a monster series of his own, going century-for-century with Steve Smith as he also hammered four centuries on that tour.

Kohli would be handed permanent Test captaincy later that tour, with MS Dhoni announcing his shock retirement. In many ways, it was the start of a new chapter for Indian cricket, one of total dominance at home, and expanding the frontier beyond.

Looking back on the series in 2020 and that match in particular, Kohli penned his thoughts on social media: “Although we didn’t cross the line being so close, it taught us that anything is possible if we put our mind to it because we committed to doing something which seemed very difficult to begin with but almost pulled it off. All of us committed to it. This will always remain a very important milestone in our journey as a Test side,” wrote the Indian great on Twitter.

10 years on, Kohli returns to Australia, having captained a first-ever series win in 2018, and looking to make it three on the bounce for an Indian team which, ever since Kohli’s twin tons, has felt quite at home in Australia.