Can play as a specialist batter: Shastri lauds Jurel's temperament

The countdown for the Border Gavaskar Trophy series has begun as in a couple of days from now, the Indian team will take on Australia on their home soil. The 1st Test will take place at the Optus Stadium in Perth, where Australia are yet to lose a Test and India will play there for the 1st time in the red-ball format. All eyes have been on Virat Kohli, who has returned to Australian soil for his 5th Test tour. The hype for the star India batter has been real as Kohli headlined the front pages of the Australian newspapers as the media seemed quite excited over his return.

Not just the media, the former Australian players have also hyped Kohli ahead of the Test series and have backed him to make a comeback. Kohli did not enjoy a great home Test season in the lead-up to the Border Gavaskar Trophy series. The former Australian stars like Ricky Ponting hailed Kohli as a superstar and Justin Langer urged to not write off the 36-year-old this easily. Ian Healy also suggested ways to tackle Kohli and Michael Clarke felt that the star batter needs to be the top run-scorer if India aimed to beat Australia.

"Kohli is a star," Ricky Ponting told ICC.

"He's a superstar, has been a superstar of the game for so long. He's passionate about the way that he plays. He's passionate about his team. He wants to win and he plays with his heart on his sleeve."