After Virat Kohli buried “concerns” about his batting slump with an unbeaten 100, his seventh on Australian soil, and 30th overall in Tests in the series opener in Perth, India’s stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah said the batting talisman had never looked “out of form” despite having endured a run of low scores heading into the series.

Kohli, coming into this series on the back of averaging 15.50 over three home Tests against New Zealand, brought up his century in 143 balls to lift India’s total to 487 for 6 declared, setting Australia a massive 534 target. In the lead-up to the Border-Gavaskar trophy, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting had raised questions over the 36-year-old’s place in the side, after the right-hander managed just two Test centuries in the past five years.

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Bumrah, however, stressed that Kohli knows his cricket better than anyone else and that his experience of batting in these challenging conditions was essential from the team’s perspective.

“I have said this before, Virat Kohli doesn’t need us, we need him,” Bumrah said at the press conference.

“He is an experienced player. This is his fourth or fifth tour. So he knows his cricket better than anyone else. He looked in good shape, he was mentally switched on. Sometimes when you have such a long career, you bat in tough conditions and he has batted in tough scenarios for a long time, but it’s difficult to do that all the time in every match.”

“But he looked to be in a good space and obviously, he got a good delivery in the first innings, but he was still in a great space and he capitalised in the second innings. We needed an experienced batter then. He also played well and helped his partners play well as well. So obviously, when he gets confidence at the start of the series, you can’t ask for more than that,” he added.

Bumrah also showered praises on young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who broke several records on his way to 161, one of which was becoming the second player to convert his first four centuries into 150-plus scores. Jaiswal bounced back from a duck in the first innings, with a mature hundred in the second essay, and more importantly, put up a 201-run opening stand with KL Rahul.

Rating his second innings century as “probably his best Test innings”, Bumrah hailed the young southpaw, saying, “Out of all these innings, he (Jaiswal) had a great start to his career. But the way he played in the last innings was probably his best Test innings so far because he left the ball. He has an attacking nature, but he left the ball well and played long. That really helped us.”

After being bowled out for 150 on day one, India bounced back strongly with the ball thanks largely to Bumrah for spearheading the counterattack. Bumrah revealed what he said to his team at the end of their first innings.

“We were put under pressure in the first innings, but the way we responded after that, I’m really very proud of the team,” Bumrah said.

“I played here in 2018, so I remember that when you start here, the wicket is a little soft and then becomes quicker and quicker. So I was relying on that experience. Obviously, this wicket was a little less spicy than the last one that I played here, but we were really well prepared.

“So I was just telling everyone to have faith in their process and ability because over here at this moment you have an opportunity to do something special. So on a given day, experience does matter, but if you have faith in your ability, you can do something special,” he revealed.

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