They'll be naming a stand after Kohli in Adelaide, jokes Dhoni

Virat Kohli's Australian tour just keeps getting better and better. Having scored two fifties and two hundreds in the five-match One Day International (ODI) series, the right-hander started the Twenty20 International (T20I) series in stellar fashion as he slammed a 55-ball, unbeaten 90 to help India take a 1-0 lead at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide.

The Adelaide Oval, in fact, is turning out to be one of Kohli's favourite grounds in the world. Back in 2012, he scored his first Test hundred at this ground. When he came back in 2014, he was asked to captain the side in MS Dhoni's absence and he slammed two centuries in the Test. He also scored a scintillating hundred against Pakistan in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. In all, Kohli averages 89.14 in the six matches (across all formats) in Adelaide with four hundreds against his name.

MS Dhoni, the Indian ODI and T20I captain, joked that they will soon have to name a stand after Kohli considering his predilection to scoring at the Adelaide Oval. "I think in Adelaide, they'll be naming a stand after him, the amount of runs he's scoring," Dhoni said. "By the time he ends his career, quite a few Australian grounds will have his stand.

"But yes, he's batting really well. The important thing is, when he is taking the risk of playing a big shot, he calculates it well. It's easy to play a big shot, everyone can play it. But it's how you calculate where your strengths are and take risks according to that. Also, he is someone who looks to score in front of the wicket. Of course he's a good cutter and puller of the ball also, but at the same time, he looks to hit in front of the wicket and that always gives you more chances of success.

"He is someone who reads the game very well. Right from the very start, whenever we had any kind of interaction, he was always looking to improve himself as a cricketer. If you have that kind of curiosity, it helps you become a better cricketer," Dhoni added.

Kohli's knock was instrumental in helping India take the lead in the T20I series, but Dhoni also praised his bowlers for successfully defending their total of 188 for 3. India were back with two mainstream spinners for the first time since the Brisbane ODI, but they also had a completely fresh pace attack with Ashish Nehra, playing his first game in an India T-shirt since March 2011, partnering newcomers Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah in the pace department.

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked up two wickets each for the visitors, but the pace troika added themselves to the wickets column, too, with wickets late into the innings. Bumrah ended with three scalps to his name, while Pandya (2) and Nehra (1) took the rest.

"I don't think the fast bowlers bowled badly, frankly, but of course, the bulk of the wickets were taken by the spinners in the middle overs. If you keep taking wickets in the middle overs, it becomes easier to win the game, so their role was very crucial. We have seen spinners be quite successful in this format, especially after the sixth over once the field opens up. And over here with the bigger outfields, they can exploit that, unless the batsman is willing to play a few reverse-sweeps and all those shots or he's very good in playing spin. Then he can put pressure on the spinners, but otherwise it becomes slightly difficult to consistently hit them for boundaries," the Indian limited-overs skipper said.

Dhoni also spoke about Jadeja's form on this tour, saying that along with the pacers' performance today will be a big positive for the side. "I know they lost quite a few wickets by the time the death overs came and they didn't have proper batsmen batting, but I still felt Bumrah and Ashish Nehra executed their plans really well. That's one period where we have struggled consistently, so it's good to see them bowl well.

"As far as Jadeja is concerned, whenever there is a bit of help, he bowls well. You know that his spectrum of performance is usually quite narrow. His good and bad performances, there is less difference between them, which makes it slightly easy for us and gives us stability," the 34-year-old added.

Pandya, who made his international debut in this game, raised a few eyebrows after he bowled an 11-ball over that consisted five wides and totalled to 19 runs. Pandya did come back well later in the game and took two wickets, but Dhoni said he was confident the allrounder would come back to bowl a better second spell.

"When it comes to international cricket - and I have said this in the past too - it's all about handling pressure. And once you are given the ball, there is some kind of pressure on you. So there would have been some kind of pressure on him, but after the first over, I knew that whenever he comes in to bowl the second over, it will be better than his first. And that's what happened. I was quite happy with his second and third overs. But still, he'll have to be more and more consistent with his line and length and that will give me a lot of confidence to consistently play him as a third seamer if the need arises," Dhoni summed up.