New Delhi:
Virat Kohli won a crucial toss and opted to bat in the Boxing Day Test against Australia. India made a good start with Mayank Agarwal slamming a fifty on debut and shared solid stands of 40 and fifty-plus with Hanuma Vihari and Cheteshwar Pujara. India’s progress on this wicket stems from the fact that the team is in a confident mood. The reason –numbers which favour Kohli when he wins the toss. In the past couple of seasons, Kohli’s Indian cricket team has gained the upper hand whenever they have won the toss, be it at home or in overseas Tests. Under Kohli’s captaincy, the team has adopted the mantra that winning the toss gives them a crucial edge in the outcome of the game.
In 45 Tests that Kohli has captained, he has won the toss 21 times which includes the toss result in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Out of the 20 times he has won the toss, Kohli has tasted success in 17 games while the other three were drawn. His stats improve in overseas conditions. In eight Tests, excluding the MCG Test, Kohli has won seven games and drawn just one game. His only drawn game outside of India was the 2015 one-off Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah, which was marred by rain.
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Out of all his seven overseas Test wins, two have come in 2018. In the Johannesburg Test against South Africa, Kohli won the toss on a difficult wicket and chose to bat. The Indian cricket team put up a solid fight as they won the match by 63 runs to salvage some pride in a series which they had lost the series 1-2 due to heavy losses in Cape Town and Centurion.
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In the Adelaide Test against Australia, Kohli once again won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first and Cheteshwar Pujara’s century and fifty helped India secure a tense 31-run win. The victory was the first time India had won the first match in a Test series Down Under. With Kohli winning the toss in Melbourne, India would be hoping that they can create history and secure a win as they look to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series and break their jinx of not securing a Test series win in Australia.
