Michael Clarke’s 'Virat Kohli is back' warning sends chills down Pat Cummins’ Australia

Former Australia National Cricket Team skipper Michael Clarke lavished rich praise on India National Cricket Team batter Virat Kohli for his heroics in the Perth Test. He said that the hosts need to do hard work now to stop the batter as he has gained his confidence back.

Virat Kohli started the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 on a dominating note in what was the biggest positive for the India National Cricket Team, the batter found his mojo back. The premier batter made a strong statement and made a staggering return to form.

Virat Kohli, who struggled to get going in Tests ahead of the series, proved why he is rated as the best batter in modern-day cricket. After bagging a score of 5 runs in the first innings, he ensured that he came up with a dominating performance in the second innings and took his team to a comfortable position.

Virat Kohli slammed his 30th Test ton in 143 balls in Perth

Virat Kohli, in the second innings, looked extremely solid with the bat right from the start. The premier batter defended the ball pretty well and, after that, played some crisp and big shots once he surpassed his half-century, making Australia National Cricket Team bowlers look clueless.

Virat Kohli slammed his 30th Test ton in 143 balls. The batting great ended with the innings of unbeaten 100 runs off 143 balls. He also hit 8 fours and 2 sixes during his knock and helped India National Cricket Team win the first game of the series by the massive margin of 295 runs.

Virat's back and there's no doubt about it - Michael Clarke

While heaping rich praise on Virat Kohli, Michael Clarke said that the batter played the way he can play and looked very sharp. He stressed how the right-hander gained his confidence, claiming that everyone rightfully said that the batter is back. Speaking on ESPN, he said:

"Yeah, you couldn't ask for a better second innings, really. How he come to the crease, minimal pressure on him, he wasn't scoring as many runs as he would like, sort of walk out like that, team dominating the situation. He played the way we know Virat can play though.

"So what he did was he was sharp, he was switched on because he knew he needed some runs for his own confidence. So he did the hard work early, and then he earned the right to play his natural game. And by the end of his innings, it was, everyone was sitting there saying, Virat's back, and there's no doubt about it."

We've got some work to do now to keep him down because he's full of confidence - Michael Clarke on Virat Kohli

Michael Clarke further mentioned that the best players like Virat Kohli need to work hard at the start of the series, but with him getting a century in the first game, Australia need to work hard now. While talking about the same, he elaborated:

"Now, as I mentioned before, a ball was bowled this series. The best players, you don't want them on top at the start of the series. You want them to have to work their backside off to get into the series. And if they score 100 by Test match three or four, you sort of accept that because they're so good.

"But to allow him to get 100 in that first test, we've got some work to do now to keep him down because he's full of confidence. He's got that strut back. And that's when he's at his best. That's why he's been the best player in the world for such a long period of time."

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