100th Test for Virat Kohli, who set team bristling with aggression

Tribune News Service

Deepankar Sharda

Mohali, march 3

Eleven years from Test debut, playing his 100th match tomorrow — it’s been one hell of a ride for Virat Kohli, as new Indian captain Rohit Sharma said today.

Starting his Test journey in 2011 against West Indies, Kohli has indeed come a long way. He has proved when aggression meets talent, the outcome is unmatchable. Not only has he impressed everyone by improving his batting skills over these years, he also became an inspirational captain, leading by example — the fittest player in the team, the most-hardworking man in the nets.

The first Test against Sri Lanka, which starts here tomorrow, would be Kohli’s first Test after relinquishing captaincy, and while the skills of new captain Sharma will be closely scrutinised, Kohli would be at the centrestage.

Kohli has done it all and seen it all, and he’s already India’s most successful Test captain. So, moving from 99 to 100 Test matches may be just another step for him, but it’s a landmark he’d remember forever, especially if India win the game and he leaves a mark in it.

Amazing numbers

Kohli has scored 7,962 runs at a stellar average of 50.39. He led the Indian team in 68 Tests and won 40 of them and India’s success rate under him is 58.82 per cent, the best for an India captain. His most successful year was 2016, when he hammered 1,215 runs in 12 Tests. His 20 Test centuries as skipper are the second-most after South African skipper Graeme Smith (25). He’s only the second cricketer after Greg Chappell to score twin hundreds on Test captaincy debut, in 2014.

He has scored Test hundreds in every country he’s played in except Bangladesh, where he had only one innings in the sole Test he has played there, in 2015.

More than the numbers, he’s the man who injected bristling aggression into the team — no matter whether he was leading the side or not. He insisted on going for a win at all times, packing up the team with five bowlers to get the opposition wickets, relinquishing the safety-first approach of captains of the past. Pacemen such as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma repaid his faith, winning Test matches abroad.

He got us going: Rohit

Sharma, who takes over the reins tomorrow, credited his predecessor for getting India ‘going’ in Tests.

“As a team, I think the series we won in Australia in 2018-19 was a very good series for us. He was the captain there,” Kohli said. “As a batter, the best memory is the century in Johannesburg in 2013. On a challenging pitch, which had a lot of bounce, and all of us were playing in South Africa for the first time. And he faced Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Philander and Jacques Kallis… The way he batted, got a century in the first and scored 90-odd in the second, it was the best knock I remember.”

“He has done exceedingly well in this format and changed so many things in the way the team is moving forward, it’s been brilliant to watch that. It’s been one hell of a ride for him, and we definitely want to make it special for him. We are all prepared for that and let’s hope we have a good five days of cricket,” Sharma added.

Kohli’s journey will continue, for he’s only 33 yet, but becoming only the 12th India to get reach the milestone of 100 Tests would remain forever special.

‘Never thought I’d play 100th Test’

I honestly never thought I would play 100 Test matches. It has been a long journey. We played a lot of cricket over the course of playing those 100 Test matches. A lot of International cricket. I am just grateful that I’ve been able to make it to 100. God has been kind. I have worked really hard for my fitness. It’s a big moment for me, for my family, for my coach, who is also very happy and very proud of this Test match as long as I am concerned. I never grew up thinking I have to score small runs — the idea was to score huge runs, I scored a lot of runs big double hundreds in junior cricket, seven or eight before I made it to the First-Class level. So my idea was to bat long, as long as I could. —Virat Kohli

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