Despite being with his family to experience the birth of his first child, Virat Kohli seems to be still in tune with what happened at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia.

After what can be seen as a brilliant first of five days, the Men in Blue look in a rather unexpectedly great spot having dismissed the entire Australian batting lineup for 195 runs. And even though they lost opener, Mayank Agarwal, on a duck, India looks steady.

Now, even though Kohli is miles away from the team, he is still clearly involved in the squad’s happiness and progress, as he congratulated them on a phenomenal Day 1, on Twitter:

Top day 1 for us. Great display from the bowlers and a solid finish too. 🇮🇳

“Top day 1 for us. Great display from the bowlers and a solid finish too,” Kohli wrote.

When Kohli was going on his paternity leave, he had addressed the media in which he had said that his absence from the roster would give a lot of cricketers the opportunity to prove themselves, and we can already see that coming to fruition. 

While Ravichandran Ashwin stepped up to help Jasprit Bumrah clear the pitch with variations and spin, Ajinkya Rahane’s brave and bold captaincy won hearts all over as well. 

All eyes are now on the debutant Shubman Gill, who, despite looking out of his comfort zone at the beginning of his innings, composed himself and started batting like a seasoned player by the end of the third session.

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