Rahul Dravid issues stark warning to Australia following Virat Kohli's exceptional performance in Perth

Rahul Dravid has confidently stated that Virat Kohli is poised for an outstanding performance in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, following his remarkable century in Perth which marked the end of a recent streak of poor form in Tests. Kohli's unbeaten 100 off 143 deliveries, along with stellar contributions from Yashasvi Jaiswal (161 off 297) and KL Rahul (77 off 176), allowed India to set Australia a daunting target of 534 runs. The Indian team ultimately secured a resounding victory, winning the match by an impressive margin of 295 runs - their largest ever in a Test match on Australian soil.

Dravid, who stepped down as India's head coach after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup and is now with the Rajasthan Royals in the same role, noted that Kohli had batted pretty well in the last Test series that he had coached in.

Dravid's final Test series as India's head coach was the two-match tour of South Africa which ended in a 1-1 draw. Kohli had notably scored 76 off 82 balls while India collapsed for a score of 131 in their second innings. Shubman Gill was the only other Indian who managed a double-digit score in that innings, making 26 runs.

“He's been batting really well, even in South Africa a few months ago when we were there, I thought he was batting really well on a couple of difficult wickets. It's just nice for him to be able to get that hundred at the start of the series. I think he could have a big series,” said Dravid on Star Sports.

The century in Perth made Kohli the fourth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar to have got to 30 Test tons. The 34-year-old came into the series on the back of some forgettable for in the five home Tests that India played. While he scored 70 in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand, Kohli then managed scores of 1, 17, 4 and 1 as India were stunningly whitewashed 3-0.

Kohli then fell for five runs in Perth as India collapsed for a score of 150 batting first. However stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah took five wickets as India bowled Australia out for 104 runs. Jaiswal and Rahul then put up a 201-run opening stand that put India firmly in control. Kohli later shared an 89-run stand with Washington Sundar which stopped a mini-collapse of sorts and then drilled India's advantage home with an unbeaten 77-run stand off just 54 balls with Nitish Reddy. With India wanting to bowl at Australia in the last stages of Day 3, Kohli switched to some unusually aggressive batting to complete his century.