Kohli and Jaiswal put reckless India on the brink of crushing victory over Australia | Cricket

Cricket probably doesn’t owe Virat Kohli anything. It has given him riches beyond imagination, influence beyond reason, recognition built into idolatry. But then he has given cricket riches, both in literal money from his name and the intangible of what his history has added to the game. So if the game owed him anything, it was perhaps a lucky break, a generous chance of a century to ease the tension of 18 months without one. When he walked out with India two wickets down, 321 runs ahead, with Yashasvi Jaiswal immaculately set on 141 and Australia already hissing, the game delivered one.

The third day of this first Test saw the real Perth emerge. Not the mild imposture of the two days before, with their mild temperatures and occasional clouds. By the middle of day three, even in the shade, the heat was thrusting at you like a herd of cattle pushing through a gate. Horrible things to throw yourself into, even more horrible for players who knew they had let a match slip with their own poor stroke time.

When Kohli was called upon to face the second ball after lunch, the Australians were already in their 85th over. They had removed the suffocating presence of KL Rahul but Devdutt Padikkal kept pressing. Jaiswal had raised his ton with an uppercut six but was otherwise happy to keep playing percentages. Of course, Australia had the brief advantage of a new ball, but the overnight lead of 218 might already have been enough, so 321 at lunch seemed to have moved the target towards impossible.

By the time Padikkal edged Josh Hazlewood to drop the first ball after the break, the clock and the sun had gone past 1 p.m. Even without heat in the match, there was heat in the ground: the Australians were in the middle of a frying pan. But there’s always the heat of being Kohli, the player fans most want to see succeed. There is the desire, the expectation. The large Indian contingent in the stands celebrated his first run, a tap to cover, then cooed a quality drive through mid off for three. After a low-scoring run and some early rumblings about whether his tenure on the team was coming to an end, this inning still mattered.

Kohli started as if it did when he saw the new ball, stretched forward to tap the ball into the gaps and took on the fielders. Pops a bouncer, stretches forward to drive through cover, three that would have skated for four if not for this endlessly slow outfield. Making up for it with a fluted straight drive, Pat Cummins looks as flat as he’s ever looked.

When Jaiswal’s score soon topped 150, as each of his previous three centuries have done, the order was clear. Think generational Indian talent in their first Perth Test. Sachin Tendulkar’s teenage ton at the Waca in 1993, bending his back to cut the quicks. Kohli’s first Waca visit in 2012 fell short of the milestone, but he topped both innings, last man out for 75 after teammates fell around him. He scored a ton in his first match at the new Perth stadium in 2018, a top-tier 123 on the spiciest pitch the earth has yet seen. Now comes Jaiswal: a first-innings duck, a second-innings chase.

What stood out from a young player was his concentration, over seven hours on the pitch. He is so much more than an IPL hitter. That’s why England opener Ben Duckett was so tone-deaf when he suggested his side’s attacking cricket had “inspired” Jaiswal during their recent series. Jaiswal left home at 12 to live in a tent and work in street markets to fund his training, playing every format available to rise through Mumbai’s state ranks ahead of the IPL. English parents would be arrested if they allowed their child to try it. At 22, Jaiswal already has more lifetime experience than cosette players from some other countries ever will.

There have been 1,032 players to visit Australia and bat in Test cricket. Jaiswal is the 35th to make a hundred in their first match in this country. He is something else: a youthful face, an old hunger. He seemed born to play in Perth, relishing the bounce, the chance to play off the back foot in his unusual style, using an almost straight bat to flash through the edge or pushing over the cordon with a saber show.

And when he was out, with Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel following in short order, it allowed Kohli to shift from quiet partner to charismatic lead. He put on 89 with Washington Sundar, 77 with Nitish Reddy. The roar of the half century was enormous, let alone built to a hundred. However, Kohli didn’t slow down, tossing and turning Nathan Lyon. After a finer sweep of 96 and a boundary dive, there was a very human moment when Kohli craned his neck to see the umpire, unsure if it had been signaled four. Don’t worry, you got it.

Saw the declaration, saw Jasprit Bumrah destroy another top order late in a day: 534 to win, Australia 12 for three. To a point, Kohli’s runs were junk, but they were runs that left Australia increasingly deep-boiled, a stew left to simmer until every recognizable component of meat or vegetable has broken down into swirls of bubbling mush. It was runs that saw India revel in a talisman that came in handy. Unnecessary runs in this match could still mean something in the series if this innings has Kohli spinning for closer contests.

And while Kohli isn’t done yet, those were the runs that could inform the handover to his protege. If Jaiswal is hungry, he can still learn from the skinny old wolf. Sprint singles in the heat, concerned with meeting a standard more than the score. Piles into Marnus Labuschagne’s short balls, without hesitation whistling boundaries from a part-timer. Ruthless as his team was. With India 453 runs ahead, Kohli argued with the umpire about a wide.