Indian captain Virat Kohli will make his final appearance on the cricket field this year from December 17-21 in the Adelaide Test against Australia, which marks the beginning of the four-match Test series. Kohli will return to India to attend the birth of his first child.
As the captain of the side, Kohli will be aiming to provide India with a strong start, as the side aims to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy. India achieved a historic 2-1 win in the Test series Down Under in 2018-19, which was the side's first-ever series win on Australian soil in the longest format.
However, as Kohli gears up for the final bit of cricket action this year, he will also be aiming to prevent an unwanted batting record in his international career.
The batsman is yet to hit a century across all the three formats in 2020 so far, which has happened for the first time since 2008, when he made his debut in international cricket.
Here's Kohli's record in 2020 so far:
| Formats |
Innings |
50s |
100s |
| Tests |
4 |
0 |
0 |
| ODIs |
9 |
5 |
0 |
| T20Is |
9 |
1 |
0 |
India played in only one Test series in the calendar year (against New Zealand), where Kohli scored a total of 38 runs.
If the Indian captain slams a century against Australia in Adelaide, he will also go past Ricky Ponting to become the captain with most international centuries across all formats of the game.
Both, Kohli and Ponting are currently tied at 41 international centuries so far.
| Player |
Innings |
Centuries |
| Ricky Ponting (Australia) |
327 |
41 |
| Virat Kohli (India) |
181 |
41 |
| Graeme Smith (South Africa) |
286 |
33 |
| Steve Smith (Australia) |
93 |
20 |
The series between India and Australia will also see the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, who missed the previous series due to a year's ban on ball-tampering charges. However, Warner will miss the first Test as he continues recovery from groin injury.
