Virat Kohli: The man, the myth, the legend

Port of Spain, July 20

India head coach Rahul Dravid hailed Virat Kohli as an inspiration for many cricketers due to his enormous achievements and work ethic, reflecting on the legacy of the superstar batter who is set for his landmark 500th international match here.

Kohli will join Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and MS Dhoni as the fourth Indian to play 500 international matches in the second and final Test against West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval.

“His (Kohli’s) numbers and his stats speak for themselves, it’s all there in the books. He is a real inspiration to so many players within this team without a doubt and to so many people, boys and girls back home in India,” Dravid said on the eve of the Test.

“It’s a nice to see Virat’s journey. When I first played, he was a youngster coming through. I was not really involved in the team as such. I watched him from the outside with a lot of admiration for what he has done and what he continues to achieve.”

Dravid said Kohli’s longevity and achievements in all the three formats was a result of “behind the scenes sacrifices and hard work”.

“I didn’t know that this is his 500th game. For me, what has been great is to see the efforts and the work that he puts in behind the scenes when no one is watching. And that’s a great for a coach because a lot of young players will look to that and get inspired. That’s come because of a lot of hard work behind the scenes. A lot of sacrifices that he has made through his career and is willing to continue to make,” Dravid said.

After making his debut under Dhoni in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in August 2008, the 34-year-old Kohli has come a long way. He has played 110 Tests, 274 ODIs and 115 T20Is.

He is the fifth most prolific batter in the ODI history (12,898 runs from 274 matches with 46 hundreds) and the only player to have 4,000-plus runs in T20Is. In the Test format, he has scored 8,555 runs from 110 matches.

Dravid said he does not see any signs of Kohli slowing down anytime soon.

“That has reflected in the fact that he has been able to play 500 games, is still going very strong, very fit, and the energy he brings to the game and being around for 12-13 years now, that’s truly fantastic. And it does not come easy,” he said. — PTI

WI pull back India

Port of Spain: India reached 182/4 at tea on the opening day of the second Test against West Indies. From 121/0 at lunch, India lost four wickets in the second session — Yashasvi Jaiswal skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane falling after some persistent bowling from the hosts. At the break, Virat Kohli was batting on 18 off 44 balls. PTI

Scoreboard

India 1st innings

Y Jaiswal c McKenzie b Holder 57

R Sharma b Warrican 80

S Gill c Da Silva b Roach 10

V Kohli not out 18

A Rahane b Gabriel 8

Extras: (lb 4, nb 5) 9

Total: (4 wickets, 50.4 overs) 182

FoW: 1-139, 2-153, 3-155, 4-182

Bowling O M R W

Kemar Roach 10 1 41 1

Alzarri Joseph 10 0 43 0

Shannon Gabriel 9.4 0 46 1

Jomel Warrican 12 2 26 1

Jason Holder 9 2 22 1