Team India head coach Rahul Dravid on Friday felicitated former Indian captain Virat Kohli as he reached the 100th Test landmark in Mohali.
Virat Kohli became the twelfth Indian cricketer to have achieved the feat, joining an elite list of batters to have reached the figure that includes Dravid himself, alongside legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag.
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In January, Virat Kohli had stepped down as India’s Test captain after seven years in charge during which he led the team to the top of the Test rankings and reached the final of the inaugural World Test Championship last year.
Under the Indian batter’s leadership, the side ended a 71-year drought in Australia when they sealed a maiden series victory in 2019 and they led 2-1 in a series in England last year before the final test was postponed.
“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.
Upon receiving the cap, Kohli, accompanied by wife Anushka Sharma, thanked his family, friends, teammates and childhood coach and also had a message for the upcoming generation.
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Kohli took over as captain from MS Dhoni in 2014 and he won 40 of 68 tests — more than any other Indian skipper.
“I clearly remember when I took over test captaincy, I had this vision… that we needed to play certain kind of cricket and we need to be a certain kind of team in international cricket and we ended up achieving that five years in a row,” Kohli had said in an interview posted by the BCCI on Thursday.
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“So immensely proud. Just the atmosphere was something magical to be a part of — you entered the dressing room and you felt that you could win anywhere and that feeling was so empowering.”
Earlier in the Mohali Test, India had won the toss and opted to bat against Sri Lanka at the PCA Stadium. India have opted to take the field with three spinners (Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jayant Yadav) and two pacers (Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami). While Hanuma Vihari was slotted at no.3, Shreyas Iyer batted at the fifth spot.
