Virat Kohli returns to Adelaide eager to continue his love affair with a city he describes as his cricketing home away from home.
Footage of Kohli's intimidating batting form in the Adelaide Oval nets earlier in the week went viral and it's little surprise the India superstar was finding the middle of the bat before the first Test against Australia starting on Thursday.
No visiting batsman has scored more Test centuries at Adelaide Oval than Kohli's three - including his maiden Test ton in 2012.
The skipper's twin centuries at the ground were a highlight of the 2014/15 series, kicking off a campaign in which he scored 692 runs and plundered four hundreds.
"I don't know what the connection is but I just feel really good here," Kohli said on Wednesday.
"Not to say that performances are always guaranteed in a certain place but coming to Adelaide I feel different to any other place that I've gone in the world.
"It happens to every cricketer, they do have a favourite ground away from home.
"For me, Adelaide has always been special because I scored my first Test ton here ... from then on, the connection started."
Kohli noted that several of his teammates would also take confidence from having scored runs in Australia, despite India never having won a Test series down under.
Opener Murali Vijay scored 482 runs at 60.25 during the 2014/15 series while Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul also contributed centuries.
"It certainly will help, the fact that we've played quite a few Test matches here before, all of us, and we've scored runs," Kohli said.
"I think that's even more important, to know that you've performed in a certain place and you know how to get runs there.
"Australia, if the batsmen apply themselves, can be a great place to play ... but it takes character, it takes grinding out tough situations because the Australian team has great skills, especially their bowling attack is really strong.
"We need to step up as a batting group."
