India’s third assignment of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2023–25 will be a five-match Test series against England, which will begin on January 25 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. All eyes will be on ace Indian batsman Virat Kohli during the eagerly anticipated series. He has an outstanding record against the Three Lions in the longest format.
Interestingly, in a Test series played at home in 2012–13, England was the last team to defeat India. The historic victory was largely down to the exploits of a former England off-spinner, who shared the pre-match talks about Virat Kohli with England’s co-leading 20 wicket takers. Graeme Swann disclosed that they had been instructed to refrain from engaging in a verbal altercation with the Indian batter because he finds it entertaining.
Graeme Swann stated on the Sky Sports podcast that Steven Finn was driven for a few unbelievable fours, which caused him to lose his sense of humor.
“We were warned in advance not to speak with this man since he truly enjoys fighting in the field. He immediately realized his error and took aim at the driver.
Finn simply bent over and took a lot of damage, while Virat Kohli charged forward like a tiger. He hadn’t really accomplished anything in Test cricket at the time, but we knew what he could do in the white-ball format,” he continued.
During the Test series in 2016 and 2018, Virat Kohli was the top scorer of runs against England.
Despite scoring 188 runs in just seven innings, Virat Kohli series was somewhat forgettable. However, in the fourth Test in Nagpur, which resulted in a tie, he scored an incredible 103. With 655 runs from eight innings, team skipper Virat Kohli emerged victorious in the next Test series between the two countries in India.
He further battled his demons against the Dukes ball in the 2018 trip to England, amassing 593 runs from ten innings at an average of 59.30 with two hundred and three fifties. After regaining his form in all three forms in 2023, the Delhi-born hitter will attempt to demolish England in the forthcoming series.
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