"He loves to have that banter against the Australian players" - Sanjay Bangar expects Virat Kohli to end his Test century drought

Sanjay Bangar expects Virat Kohli to make an impact in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy as the former Indian skipper loves to have banter with the Aussies and raises his game against them.

Rohit Sharma and Co. will face Australia in a four-match Test series, with the first game starting in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9. Kohli is heading into the series on the back of underwhelming performances in the longest format over the last few years and would want to address that slump.

During an interaction on Star Sports, Bangar was asked what can be expected from Virat Kohli against Australia, to which he responded:

"He loves to play against Australia. He loves to have that banter against the Australian players and he raises his game, and Test cricket is a format which brings the best out of Virat Kohli as well."

While acknowledging that Kohli has endured a prolonged lean patch in the longest format, the former Indian batting coach expects him to carry his limited-overs form into red-ball cricket, elaborating:

"Yes, the last two-and-a-half years haven't been as productive by his standards. So he would want to continue the freshness of approach that he has enjoyed in the T20 and ODI formats and now he would look to transform that into Test cricket as well. So he is going to make a big bang and create an impact in this series as well."

Kohli went through a difficult phase across all three formats for almost three years. He regained his mojo with a century against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup last year and hasn't looked back in white-ball cricket thereafter, but couldn't replicate that form in the Tests against Bangladesh.

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"He has already made great strides in overcoming the lean patch" - Sanjay Bangar on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli averages less than 30 in Tests in each of the last three years.

Bangar replied affirmatively when asked whether Kohli will end his Test century drought in the series against Australia:

"All the indications are in that direction because he has already made great strides in overcoming the lean patch, whatever lean patch you may have to call because of the level of cricket that he has played. We are very optimistic that he will be able to overcome whatever challenges that he has had to encounter in the Test format."

Irfan Pathan was asked about the likely headline at the end of the series, to which he responded:

"Virat Kohli finding back his Test cricket form and winning the series for Team India. I think that's the headline I want to hear at the end of the series."

Kohli hasn't scored a century in the longest format since the pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in November 2019. He has breached the half-century mark just six times in the 36 innings he has played in the last three years and has even been dismissed for a duck on four occasions.