Former Indian selector Saba Karim hailed Virat Kohli for his hard work to grind out in the field against West Indies to reach his 29th century on his historic 500th International game on Friday. The Indian batting maestro became the first-ever player in the game’s history to score a hundred on the 500th game for the country.
Virat Kohli batted equally well against the pacers and spinners in the 1st innings, as he batted with a lot of patience in the middle to score his first overseas test hundred in the last five years. The Indian veteran showed a lot of grit and determination in the middle alongside Ravindra Jadeja on Day 2 to bat out the initial tough overs in the Caribbean soil.
Speaking on Jiocinema, Saba Karim heaped praise on Virat Kohli for working really hard to get to the three-figure mark in West Indies and feels that he is watching a new version of the former Indian skipper, who is taking time to take on the bowlers and reckons that he is somebody who loves to get quick runs in the middle but took his time on both innings he played so far against West Indies in the tw0-match test series.
“A huge relief for Virat Kohli. He really had to work hard for this. I see a new version of Virat Kohli now. If you see in this innings, in fact even in the last Test match, he is willing to bide his time, he is willing to take his time, he took around 20 balls to get off the mark,” he said.
“He loves to get off the mark quickly, he loves to get those boundaries, but here, he had to exercise a lot of patience. He dances to his own music, you can call him insane, but that’s called by those who don’t understand his music,” Saba Karim added.
Virat Kohli batted exceedingly well on Day 2 to score his 29th century in the longer format of the game and looked like he is well settled to score a daddy hundred before being dismissed by run-out due to the confusion with Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. India is well on top at the end of the Day 2 play posting a massive total of 438 runs in the 1st innings and they will look to pick up some quick wickets on Day 3 to put the Men in Maroon in trouble.