Jay Shah, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) secretary on Friday congratulated ex- skipper batter Virat Kohli on playing his 100th Test match. The ex-Indian skipper will be playing his 100th Test match on Friday against Sri Lanka in the two-match series in Mohali, Punjab.
He was slated to play his 100th Test during the South Africa series earlier this year, but as fate has it, he will reach the milestone in India itself with a 50 per cent crowd in attendance at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. Virat Kohli missed a Test in South Africa due to back spasms. Rahul Dravid presented the special cap to him in the presence of his India teammates, wife Anushka Sharma, and BCCI officials.
Jay Shah: Virat Kohli Redefined Test Cricket And Infused It With Fresh Life
The ex-India skipper will now join the company of legendary players who represented the country in 100 Tests or more. He 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.
Having scored only 4 and 15 in his debut Test against the West Indies in 2011, the middle-order batsman 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, before his 100th Test.
“His journey has been a union of emotion, passion, dedication, and determination. To the man who redefined Test cricket and infused it with fresh life, congratulations @imVkohli on this landmark Test. Let’s come together and celebrate #VK100,” tweeted Jay Shah.
Messages poured in from all around the cricketing fraternity, including Jay Shah. He described Virat Kohli’s career as a mix of passion and dedication to the game. The ex-skipper is also looked at as the person who ‘revived’ Test cricket during its dormant phase.
Virat Kohli Reached 8000 Run Mark And Hanuma Vihari Scores 5th Test Fifty
Hanuma Vihari scored his 5th Test fifty while Virat Kohli reached the 8000-run milestone in Test cricket, but was dismissed on 45 by Lasith Embuldeniya. Mayank Agarwal (33), Rohit Sharma(29) were the other wickets to fall. Hanuma Vihari is batting on 56. India is 170/3 at the moment.
_1646378700761_1646378713737.jpg "Jay Shah Lauds Virat Kohli For Redefining Test Cricket And Infusing It With Fresh Life 4")
Meanwhile, India won the toss against Sri Lanka in the first match of the two-match series on Friday and opted to bat. The milestone Test in Mohali was expected to be played behind closed doors. However, PCA decided to let in 50% of the capacity for the Test, which will also be Sri Lanka’s 300th Test in history.
Spinner Lasith Embuldeniya got the massive wicket of the ex-Indian skipper for 45(75). Rishabh Pant joined Hanuma Vihari who is well set after scoring a half-century. The post-lunch session on Day 1 started well for India. Hanuma Vihari and the ex-skipper brought up a 50 run partnership. The ex-Indian skipper also brought up 8000 runs in Tests for India.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav