Virat Kohli became the 12th Indian to complete 100 Test matches in the first game against Sri Lanka at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Friday. Kohli, the former captain, was presented with a special Test cap by another ex-Indian skipper and current head coach Rahul Dravid before the start of Day 1 of the match.
“I want to thank the BCCI and getting my 100th Test cap from one of my childhood heroes is indeed amazing,” Kohli, who was accompanied by wife and actor Anushka Sharma, said as Dravid presented him with a special cap.
“It is a special moment for me. My wife is here and so is my brother. Everyone is very proud. It is indeed a team game and it couldn’t have been possible without you. With the amount we play with three formats and an IPL, the one takeaway the next generation can take from me is that I played 100 games in the purest format.”
Kohli made his Test debut against West Indies in 2011 at Kingston in Jamaica. Since then, Kohli has established himself as one of the best batters in the world also earning him the nickname of ‘King Kohli’ from his fans globally.
“It's well deserved, well earned, and hopefully it is just the start of many things to come. As we say in the dressing room, double it up,” Dravid said while presenting Kohli with the cap. The whole Indian team was around when Kohli got his 100th Test cap.
So far in his career, Kohli has scored 7962 Test runs at an average of 50.39 that included 27 hundreds. He also has seven double hundreds to his name with the career-best of 254 not out against South Africa in Pune in 2019.
Kohli joins an illustrious list comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma in the list of Indian cricketers to have played 100 Tests or more.
India are currently at 76/1 in the first session on Day 1 against Sri Lanka. The only wicket to fall is of captain Rohit Sharma.
