Head coach Rahul Dravid on Friday (March 4) felicitated Virat Kohli as the latter became only the 12th Indian cricketer to feature in 100 Tests. He achieved the feat in the Test series opener against Sri Lanka in Mohali.
After a forgettable start to his Test career against the West Indies in 2011, Kohli has come a long way in his decade-long journey, during which he amassed 7962 runs at an average of 50.39 with 27 centuries in the longest format.
"It's well deserved, it's well earned, and as we say in the dressing room, double it up," Dravid told Kohli as he honoured him with the 100th Test cap.
After receiving the cap, Kohli thanked his family, friends, teammates, childhood coach and also had a message for the budding cricketers. He was accompanied by his wife Anushka Sharma in the felicitation ceremony.
"It is a special moment for me. My wife is here and so is my brother. Everyone is very proud. It is indeed a team game and it couldn't have been possible without you. Thanks to the BCCI as well. In present-day cricket, with the amount we play with three formats and an IPL, the one takeaway the next generation can take from me is that I played 100 games in the purest format," Virat Kohli said.
Here’s the video:
Earlier this year, Virat Kohli stepped down as Test captain following the 2-1 series loss to South Africa. He led the side for seven years with tremendous success, registering 40 wins from 68 Tests. Only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won more matches than him as captain in Test cricket.
The highlight of Kohli’s captaincy tenure was the Test series victory in Australia in 2018-19 and making it into the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final. He also led India to two Test series wins in West Indies and Sri Lanka. Under his captaincy, Team India were leading 2-1 in England last year before the series got postponed due to COVID cases in the visiting camp.
