“They’ll name a stand in Adelaide after him”- When MS Dhoni praised Virat Kohli’s dominance in Australia

Virat Kohli couldn't have picked a better time to reunite with the South Australian coast. India will face Australia in the second one-day international of the three-match series on October 23 in Adelaide.

Kohli and Rohit Sharma have both returned to India's ODI team since March of this year. However, the much-hyped comeback failed, with Rohit scoring 8 runs and Kohli scoring 0 in eight deliveries.

The Adelaide Oval, the Southern Hemisphere's picture-postcard cricket stadium, is a venue where the modern maestro has wielded his willow with maximum clarity and control.

Kohli's love affair with Adelaide has been widely documented throughout his career, with significant milestones occurring at pivotal moments on the field. He got his first Test century in Adelaide in 2011-12 and made his Test captaincy debut in the same stadium in 2013-14. He hit 169 and 144 runs, nearly leading India to a spectacular victory. Kohli earned his previous career-best 90 in the 2016 T20I series, which India won.

Soon after, Dhoni would proclaim that his then-vice-captain would have a stand named after him at multiple Australian venues, let alone Adelaide!

“I think in Adelaide, they’ll be naming a stand after him, with the amount of runs he’s scoring. By the time he ends his career, quite a few Australian grounds will have his stand,” Dhoni said.

“There is something about this ground, you know. Whenever I step into this stadium, there is something that really sinks in with me. Naturally, I feel wonderful coming here. All my nerves calm down pretty nicely. It is just about the whole atmosphere of the new stands and the crowd in your ears. It is a wonderful stadium to play as a cricketer, and when you have big crowds, it feels great,” Kohli said in a BCCI video.

Overall, Kohli's aggregates in Adelaide are the highest for a visiting batter—975runs at the venue across formats, averaging 65.00 in 17 innings with five centuries and four fifties. In tests, Kohli has made 527 runs in five matches with three centuries—the most he has at any ground—and a half-century.

In three T20Is, Kohli was only dismissed once in Adelaide while racking up 204 runs with three consecutive fifty-plus scores. Limited to only four ODI appearances before Thursday’s reunion, Kohli has racked up 244 runs at an average of 61.00.

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