India‘s newly-appointed captain Rohit Sharma lauded former skipper Virat Kohli ahead of his landmark 100th Test match. It will also be Virat’s first test match as non-captain in more than 7 years.
Kohli is all set to become the 12th Indian player to play 100 Test matches for India. On the eve of the first test match, Rohit Sharma recalled some of his best knocks and he also picked his favourite Kohli knock.
In a pre-match press conference, Rohit Sharma said that winning the test series in Australia is the topmost memory from the team’s point of view. However, on a personal note, he rated his knock in Johannesburg above every other innings. Sharma recalled how Kohli batted with some authority on challenging wicket against a bowling attack comprising Steyn, Morkel, and Philander.
“As a team, the favourite memory is the series which we won in Australia in 2018. It was a great series and Virat was the captain. As an individual, my best memory of him is his Test hundred against South Africa in 2013. The pitch we were batting on was very challenging; it had a lot of bounce and a lot of us were playing a Test in South Africa for the first time,” Rohit Sharma said.
Virat Kohli scored 119 and 96 in his first test match in South Africa
Kohli scored 119 in the first innings and fell 4 short to another hundred in the second innings.
“To then face Steyn, Morkel, Philander and Kallis… it was never going to be easy but the way Virat batted in that match, scoring hundred in the first innings and 90 odd in the second was sensational. It was one of his best knocks. He made a hundred in Perth in 2018 too but I think the one in South Africa beats that,” he added.
It was Kohli’s first test match in the rainbow nation. However, he played T20Is and ODIs before in the 2010-11 tour as well. Among away venues, Australia have been the most fruitful country for Kohli as a batsman where he scored 6 hundreds.
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