Virat Kohli Deserves A Huge Ovation From The Crowd For His 100th Test – Sunil Gavaskar

With India taking a 1-0 lead in Centurion, following a 113-run win in what made the visitors the first Asian team to beat South Africa in their citadel, India was eyeing a series win at the Wanderers, where they have never lost a Test match in five appearances. The second Test would have been Virat Kohli’s 99th appearance in the format, subsequently making the final tie in Cape Town his 100th.

Sunil Gavaskar Hopes Crowd Is Allowed For Virat Kohli’s Probable 100th Test Match At Bangalore, His 2nd Home For Playing For Royal Challengers Bangalore In IPL

With Virat Kohli missing the Johannesburg Test, owing to an upper back spasm, the 33-year-old is now expected to play his 100th Test in India, at his adopted home ground, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Sunil Gavaskar feels that it will be a fantastic experience for Virat Kohli, who has captained Royal Challengers Bangalore for many years, whose home ground is the Chinnaswamy. The veteran former cricketer also hopes the crowd will be allowed during the Test match because he feels that Virat Kohli deserves a huge ovation for his record appearance in Test.

“The next one is in Cape Town. The 100th Test match will be in Bangalore. And of course, him being the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for such a long time it will be a fantastic experience.

“We have to see if crowd is allowed there, that is also important. I hope it is allowed because he deserves a huge ovation from the crowd for his 100th Test,” he said on air.

India’s next Test assignment will be the Sri Lanka series at home. India will play two Tests in the contest with the opener on February 25 in Bengaluru and the second Test in Mohali starting March 5. Virat Kohli will become the 11th Indian player to feature in 100 Test matches joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (200) and Rahul Dravid (163) among a few others.

Virat Kohli’s Absence Felt As India Dismissed For Only 202

In an unexpected turn of events, Test skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out of the second Test against South Africa with an upper back spasm with KL Rahul taking the charge. The 33-year-old Virat Kohli made way for Hanuma Vihari, who has notched up impressive performances for India A in the recent past.

Virat Kohli’s absence is a big jolt for the visitors, given the fact that the prolific batter flaunts impressive records at the venue. He had scored 119 and 96 in a high-scoring draw in 2013 and made 54 and 41 in 2018. Virat Kohli hasn’t been in the greatest of batting forms but he has 310 runs in just two Test matches at the Wanderers, making him the second leading run-scorer for a visiting batter at the venue.

South Africa was 35 for one at stumps in response to India’s 202 all-out. Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen were batting on 11 and 14 respectively at the close of play.

Stand-in skipper KL Rahul (50) was the top scorer for the visitors while Ravichandran Ashwin (46) played a crucial knock towards the end of the innings. Left-arm pacer Marco Jansen (4/31) was the pick of the South Africa bowlers while Duanne Olivier (3/64) and Kagiso Rabada (3/64) also played their part in wrapping up Indian innings