India's most celebrated batter of current times, Virat Kohli is one step away from achieving yet another milestone. On Friday (February 4), in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali, Virat will become only the 12th Indian to complete a landmark of playing 100th match in the longest format, a feat which as per him was 'never thought'.
All set to become the 12th Indian to achieve the milestone of playing 100 Tests, star batter Virat Kohli says he "never thought" he would come this far and make this landmark appearance.
Having scored only 4 and 15 in his debut Test against the West Indies in 2011, Kohli has come a long way in a decade-long journey in which he has amassed 7962 runs at a stellar average of 50.39 in the longest format.
"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," Kohli said in a video posted by the BCCI.
"A lot of International cricket. I am just grateful that I've been able to make it to 100." Kohli will join an elite list of Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma to play 100 Tests.
"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," Kohli said.
Kohli's 100th Test will be open to spectators with the BCCI allowing crowd at 50 per cent stadium capacity.
Not just this, but the world's highly touted batter will have an opportunity to place his name alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. Virat is just 38 runs short of achieving a 8000-run mark in the red-ball format of the game. If he manages to score 38 runs in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali, he will become only the sixth India to do so and will join the elite list which is well adorned with the aforementioned India legends.
He will also become the fifth fastest Indian to achieve the milestone behind Sachin Tendulkar (154 innings), Rahul Dravid (158 innings) Virender Sehwag (160 innings) and Sunil Gavaskar (166 innings). So far, Kohli has played in 168 innings.
Meanwhile, on the eve of the first Test match, while addressing a press conference skipper Rohit was asked about Virat's jouney enroute to the historical100th Test.
"It’s been a brilliant journey. It’s been a long journey. He has done exceedingly well in this format. It’s been brilliant to watch that. One hell of a ride for him. We definitely want to make it special for him and let’s hope we have good five days for him," Rohit said.
India, who are coming from a high of a T20I series sweep against Sri Lanka, will look to continue their winning momentum to this Test series.
Meanwhile, the second Test match is scheduled for March 12 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
India's squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Kona Bharat (wk), Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Priyank Panchal.
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Dhanajaya De Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dushmantha Chammeera, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pathum Nssanka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne.
