Virat Kohli has not been at his menacing best in Test cricket for the last couple of years or so. The last time the Indian red-ball captain scored a century was in November 2019 against Bangladesh in the day/night Test in Kolkata. His average in Test cricket in last two years is only 26, which is considerably low than his career Test average of 50-plus. Taking a cue from that Australian broadcasters Channel 7 tried to compare Kohli and Australia pacer Mitchell Starc's batting averages in Tests since 2019. They posted a photo of Starc and Kohli's batting averages in last three years with the caption: "Your stat of the day."
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer came up with an epic response to that tweet. Jaffer posted the ODI batting averages of India pacer Navdeep Saini and Australia's batter Steve Smith.
Kohli, who was replaced as India's full-time white-ball captain by Rohit Sharma, missed the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg due to a back spasm. KL Rahul captained India in Kohli's absence. The visitors lost the match 7 wickets as South Africa levelled the three-match series.
Kohli, however, was seen training with the Indian players before the start of third day's play on Wednesday. India head coach Rahul Dravid sounded confident of the prolific right-hander regaining his fitness before the series-deciding last Test in Cape Town starting on January 11.
"Virat Kohli should be fine from all accounts, he should be fine. He has had the opportunity to run around a little bit, he has had the opportunity to test it a little bit. Hopefully with a couple of net sessions in Cape Town, he should be good to go. Everything I am hearing and just having a chat with him, he should be good to go in four days time," said Dravid during a virtual press conference on Thursday.