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Virat Kohli was the first Indian player to land in Australia ahead of the Test series, and his arrival dominated the headlines of Australian newspapers.
Virat Kohli dominates Australian front pages on arrival; newspapers, media go desi with fonts in Hindi and Punjabi. (Picture Credit: X)
Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli landed in Perth on Sunday evening to take part in the five-match Test series between India and Australia. The 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to start on November 22 in Perth, and the next four matches are scheduled to take place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, respectively.
Kohli, who enjoys huge popularity in Australia, was the first Indian cricketer to arrive in the country for the marquee Test series, and his arrival Down Under didn’t go unnoticed. Many leading Australian newspapers published the news of Kohli’s arrival in the capital city of Western Australia on the front page, and what caught everyone’s attention was the Hindi and Punjabi fonts used by the publications.
The act of the Australian media caught everyone by surprise, and Indian fans shared images of the front pages of the newspapers on social media platforms.
In the pictures that are going viral on the internet, one can read a newspaper with the headline reading, “Yugon ki ladai (Fight for the ages).” The same newspaper also had a section in Punjabi with an article on India’s highest-ranked Test batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal. The headline read: “Navam Raja (the new king).”
While Kohli has toured Australia with the Indian Test team four times in the past, Jaiswal, who made his Test debut in July 2023, will face the Baggy Greens for the first time in his career. The 22-year-old left-handed batter will be a key player for the visitors, and there will be high expectations from him after he amassed a total of 712 runs in five Tests played against England earlier this year.
The Indian team will practice at the WACA in Perth for the next one week to get acclimatised with the Australian conditions and pitches. The Optus Stadium in Perth will host the series opener from November 22 onwards, and after that, India will play a two-day warm-up match against Prime Ministers XI in Canberra to prepare for the Pink-ball Test, which is set to take place at Adelaide Oval from December 6 to 10.
