BGT 2024-25: 'Kohli doesn't need us...,' says India skipper Jasprit Bumrah after 295-run win in Perth Test

India's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah heaped praises on veteran batter Virat Kohli for his hundred in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test in Perth, Australia. India won the match by a record-breaking 295 runs to take 1-0 lead in the five-Test series.

Kohli, on day 3 of the Test, scored his 30th Test ton - his first in nearly 500 days and his seventh Test hundred in Australia - going past legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record of six Test hundreds in Australia.

Kohli was dismissed for mere five runs in the first innings, raising further questions on his form. The batter, however, bounced back in style to score his ton.

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"I have said this before, Virat Kohli doesn't need us, we need him," Bumrah said at the press conference after the win.

"He is an experienced player. This is his fourth or fifth tour. So he knows his cricket better than anyone else. He looked in good shape, he was mentally switched on. Sometimes when you have such a long career, you bat in tough conditions and he has batted in tough scenarios for a long time, but it's difficult to do that all the time in every match," he added.

Bumrah, who was declared Player of the Match for a haul of 8/72 in the game, also termed youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal's 161 as one of the best innings of the Southpaw's career.

"Out of all these innings, he [Jaiswal] had a great start to his career," Bumrah said while receiving the POTM award. "But the way he played in the last innings was probably his best Test innings so far because he left the ball. He has an attacking nature, but he left the ball well and played long. That really helped us," he added.

Chasing an astronomical 534, Australia were bowled out for 238 shortly after tea on day 4 (Monday, Nov 25). The second Test starts December 6 in Adelaide.