During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, Virat Kohli ended his century drought in the longest format with a 186-run knock in the Ahmedabad Test. While Kohli was making Australians suffer in the Ahmedabad heat, former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson recalled his battle with the former Indian skipper.
In 2014, Kohli established himself as a great batter during Australia tour after facing the worst Test series of the career. He struggled against the swing of England pacer James Anderson who exploited his weakness. He managed to score 134 runs in five Tests. Few months later, Kohli had to face the lethal Aussie bowling attack.
The series polished him like a diamond. Johnson, while commentating in the fourth Test of the series at Ahmedabad on March 13, revealed that Kohli took them by surprise.
"I've contributed to a few of those hundreds. The beauty of playing Test cricket for me was playing against the best. I always felt like he was a great player but I think the different that I found was that he brought the fire back and he actually put it back on us. We would always be quite aggressive as Australian players but he put it back on us and that's why it probably surprised us at times," Johnson said while commentating on Day 4.
Johnson said that he had contributed to a few of Kohli’s centuries. The 41-year-old shared the incident when he hit Kohli on the helmet. He further conveyed that even after a serious blow to the head, he was determined to make an impact in the game.
"I think it was the first ball I bowled. I hit him on the helmet... on the badge... it was a different time. There was a bit going on with Phil Hughes' passing and that sort of shook us up. But even just after that you could see the determination on his face being struck on the helmet. Throughout the whole series, just that fight. It was an outstanding tour by India; they really did fight hard," added Johnson.
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