India pacer Ishant Sharma wrote a heartfelt message for Virat Kohli as the latter decided to step down from Test captaincy with immediate effect on Saturday. Ishant also recalled a conversation with him that he was so focused to turnaround India’s fortunes in overseas conditions.
“Thank you for all the memories I’ve shared with you in dressing room & on & off the field since childhood, where we never thought that you would be our captain & I’ll play 100 test matches for India. All we did was just play cricket with all our heart & things worked out well,” Ishant Sharma tweeted on Saturday.
Ishant played 43 Tests under Virat Kohli
Ishant recalled the memories of India’s tour of South Africa in 2017-18 when Kohli told him about his ambitions to win a series outside Asia. Though India lost that series by 1-2 in South Africa, eventually they won two back-to-back series in Australia in the space of three years.
“I still remember back in 2017 in South Africa, where u told me it’s high time to win series in these countries. Yes, we didn’t win the 2017-18 series in Africa, but we went to Australia & beat them in Australia. In England 2017-18 series we lost, but we know as a team how close we came!” he added.
Ishant played 43 Tests under the leadership of Virat Kohli in which he picked 121 wickets with an average of 25.85 which included 5 fifers.
Thank you for all the memories I've shared with you in dressing room & on & off the field since childhood, where we never thought that you would be our captain & I'll play 100 test matches for India.
All we did was just play cricket with all our heart & things worked out well? pic.twitter.com/0LhXJmxTaO
— Ishant Sharma (@ImIshant) January 15, 2022
“So cheers to your most successful Test Captaincy for India. and thanks for the amazing memories as a Captain you have given us,” he concluded.
Virat Kohli led India in 68 Test matches with 40 wins and 17 losses. In his captaincy tenure, India never lost a home series and they won two-Test series in Australia, twice in West Indies, and also leading a series by 2-1 in England which will be completed this year in July.
Going forward, India doesn’t have any overseas tour in the next 18 months barring that one-off test in England as they will host Sri Lanka and Australia this year while they will travel to Bangladesh for the 2-match series. The first test between India and Sri Lanka starting on February 25, will be Kohli’s 100th Test match in his career.