Australia v India: Scott Boland numbers against Virat Kohli after SCG dismissal

The first Test was still more than three months away, and the paceman was cheekily reminded by this reporter that Virat Kohli was his “bunny” given the way the Victorian had worked over the Indian superstar on the final day of the 2023 World Test Championship final.

Boland laughed at the suggestion.

“I wouldn’t say that,’ he said.

But nor did he seem intimidated by the prospect of going up against an all-time great.

“Yeah, it was nice to get him out, and hopefully, I have a chance to have a crack at him again.”

Hardly known for having a brash personality or courting controversy, Boland probably still wouldn’t come out and say it.

So let’s say it for him.

Virat Kohli is Scott Boland’s bunny. He got him at The Oval. He got him in Adelaide. He got him at the MCG. He almost had him first ball on Friday in Sydney. And he got him for 17 in the end anyway, with the former Indian skipper again playing at a ball outside off stump and edging to debutant Beau Webster at third slip.

Kohli’s record against Boland in Test cricket stands at six innings, four dismissals, 32 runs from 98 balls.

According to CricViz, Boland has the best average, economy and strike rate against Kohli of all pacemen to have dismissed the icon four or more times in Test cricket.

Clearly Boland has come up against a version of Kohli many years past his peak.

But the same cannot be said of England champion Joe Root, who Boland has also removed four times in Test cricket.

Boland’s stranglehold over Kohli is the latest remarkable chapter of an extraordinary career. It is almost a cliche now to talk about the need to play Boland in Melbourne given his phenomenal hometown debut against England three summers back.

But here’s the sneaky fact: Boland has a better Test bowling average in Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart than he does at the MCG.

His mark at the SCG would have been even better had Steve Smith not dropped Ravindra Jadeja on three.

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Boland is not an MCG specialist. He’s just a gun. And Australia has ended up losing very little, if anything, by missing Josh Hazlewood to injury across two stints this series. Which is no knock on Hazlewood.

Having carried the drinks through seven Tests last season, Boland spent sizeable chunks of 2024 sidelined through injury. There were no guarantees he would play Test cricket again.

And yet though he will be 36 in April, he still shapes as a key player in 2025, given Pat Cummins is set to miss at least some of the Sri Lanka Tests, and Hazlewood’s body is a lingering concern. A return bout with the Bazball lineup that tamed him in 2023 is looming large.