Back in 2011, a young cricketer from Delhi called Virat Kohli made his Test debut. Now we need to be frank. By this point, Kohli was three years old into international cricket, but he was just any other young cricketer with talent. He wasn’t King Kohli as he is known today. But he rose through the ranks and became one of the most successful Test captain for India.
“I honestly never thought that I would play a hundred Test matches. It’s been a long journey, I played a lot of cricket. Just grateful that I have been able to make it to the 200. God’s been kind. I have really worked hard on my fitness. And it’s a big moment for me and my family. For my coach, who is also very happy and proud of this Test match as long as I am concerned,” he said on a video produced by BCCI.
He further said that he always wanted Test cricket to thrive as it is a special experience surviving the toils of five day game. He added it takes out a player’s real character.
“I personally never grew up thinking that I have to score small runs. The idea was always to score huge runs. I scored a lot of big double hundreds in junior cricket—I think seven or eight before I made it to the first-class level. So, my idea was to bat long and bat sessions and try and win or try and get first-innings lead. This is the format we used to follow. So these things were something that reveals your true character. Tested your true character. And this is something I thoroughly enjoyed because I felt Test cricket needed to stay alive. People need to experience this. For me, this is real cricket.”
