Veteran India batter Virat Kohli is all set to feature in his 100th Test match in the first game of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in Mohali on Friday (March 3).

On the eve of the game, Kohli reflected on his journey and said he never thought that he will be able to play 100 Tests for the country.

"I honestly never thought that I will play 100 Tests, it has been a long journey. Played a lot of cricket over the course of these 100 Tests, a lot of international cricket and I am just grateful that I have been able to play these 100 Tests. God has been kind, I have worked really hard on my fitness. It is a big moment for me, my family and my coach. It is a very special moment," Kohli said in a video posted on the official Twitter handle of BCCI.

"I never grew up thinking that I have to score small runs, the idea was to score big runs. I scored a lot of double hundreds in junior cricket. My idea was to bat long and I enjoyed doing that. These things took a lot out of you and it revealed your true character. Test cricket needed to stay alive, for me, this is real cricket," he added.

In 99 Tests so far, Virat Kohli has amassed 7962 runs at an average of 50.39 with 27 centuries and 28 fifties.

Earlier this year, 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.