Two batsmen, born just days apart, are now light years adrift in their cricket ambitions. Virat Kohli is a certified international star, now occupying Sachin Tendulkar’s coveted number four spot in the Test side and with all the credentials of a future Indian captain. Phil Hughes on the other hand, is relegated to State duties having been left out of the touring party for South Africa and dropped from the Australian One Day side. His only consolation is the thought of piling up first-class runs — something he does with monotonous regularity — to sooth his wounds.

This is a far cry from where matters stood just a few years ago. Both players were born in November 1988 but Hughes matured more quickly than Kohli. By the time he’d played four Test innings — prior to his 21st birthday — Hughes had amassed two centuries. Kohli didn’t play four Test innings until he was nearly 23 and none of those knocks exceeded 30.
Kohli’s breakthrough came in a Test on the notorious WACA pitch. A difficult strip to handle even for local batsmen, the bouncy pitch was deemed to be a nightmare for Indian batsmen but for Kohli it became his field of dreams. He scored 44 and then 75 and he hasn’t looked back as an international batsman.

India’s Virat Kohli celebrates his 100 against Australia in the Adelaide Test in 2012. pic/Getty Images

Having coped with the most extreme of conditions, he then scored his initial Test century in the next innings at the picturesque Adelaide Oval. He’s accumulated another four since, at venues as disparate as Bangalore and the Bullring in Johannesburg. Adelaide might be the most scenic of his Test century venues but the Wanderers ranks up there with the WACA in importance on a touring batsman’s CV.