“I told Rahul bhai I am feeling like I am making my debut all over again. There were butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t realise the magnitude of the occasion until today, when the presentation happened and there were people in the stadium. I felt very nervous,” said Virat Kohli after the end of the first day’s play in the Mohali Test against Sri Lanka.
Listen in to what Virat Kohli has to say on his playing his landmark Test today. @Paytm #INDvSL | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/MAtUcgJcVo
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 4, 2022
In the morning, the stage had been set for Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match. Long having ignored Test cricket, Mohali had begun to turn up quite early for the man who adores the format. His wife, brother, BCCI biggies, they were all there. The entire India squad stood behind in a line as head coach Rahul Dravid presented Kohli with a special cap for the landmark before the start of play.
The crowd erupted in celebration at the fall of Mayank Agarwal and cheered Kohli all the way to the pitch in the 19th over. It can’t be said that he didn’t give them their money’s worth. He stayed in the middle for 104 minutes, and played some authoritative strokes. But just when it appeared that this was the start that would be converted into that elusive century – he’s given that feeling before too – he made a basic error to be bowled for 45.
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The crowd would never approach the allowed 50 percent capacity during the day, but even a couple of hours before the scheduled 9.30am start, there were queues building up at various entrances to the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium. Shouts of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ rang out from one gate or the other. There was a group of young men holding up a poster proclaiming, ‘You will always be our captain’. All this was to have been lost, but for the last-minute decision to not play the match to an empty stadium.
Only a few hundred had made their way in while the teams were warming up. Even those many made plenty of noise whenever Kohli took a catch at first slip. Hardly anyone seemed to initially notice Rohit Sharma walking out for his first Test toss in his captain’s blazer. For Kohli was making the walk back at the same time towards the dressing room to change into his whites.
It was only half an instant, but as Rohit neared the pitch, Kohli, who’d reached the boundary by then, turned around to look at the spot that had been his all these years. He then put his head down and disappeared out of sight into the dressing room.
Soon, Dravid was all smiles as he got mic’d up for the cap presentation, followed by 16 Indian players forming a line. Skipper Rohit was nowhere to be seen for a bit before he jogged out having put his pads on. As Anushka Sharma walked up to be by her husband’s side, Dravid went on to say a few typically solemn words about the occasion.
“It’s a testament to everything. It’s well deserved, well earned, and hopefully it is just the start of many things to come,” Dravid said. “As we say in the dressing room, double it up.”
“Thanks Rahul bhai, it’s a special moment for me,” Kohli said. “My wife is here with me, my brother is there in the stands. Everyone is very proud. It’s a team game and the journey wouldn’t have been possible without you guys. Thanks to the BCCI too. I couldn’t have received it from a better person, my childhood hero. I still have that picture with you from my Under-15 days. In present-day cricket, with the amount we play with three formats and an IPL, the one takeaway the next generation can take from me is that I played 100 games in the purest format.”
Formal presentations are often banalities that have to be gone through but it was hard not to feel the emotion from Kohli in this one as he hugged Anushka multiple times, before Dravid signed off with a couple of very formal looking handshakes with husband and wife.
What a moment to commemorate his 100th Test appearance in whites ??
Words of appreciation from the Head Coach Rahul Dravid and words of gratitude from @imVkohli??#VK100 | #INDvSL | @Paytm pic.twitter.com/zfX0ZIirdz
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 4, 2022
As the teams proceeded to line up for the national anthems, Rohit walked up to Kohli, thrust his right palm into his former captain’s, and had a quick half-hug. After the anthems, Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne came over to Kohli to shake hands. ‘Kohli, Kohli,’ the chants kept coming.
When it was his turn to bat, they turned into a roar which seemed to inject more energy into his sprint out of the dressing room. His first four, a bullet of a straight drive, sent the crescendo higher. The swat-flick through midwicket made an appearance, so did the cover drive. He left and defended the pacers well.
.@imVkohli breaches another milestone on his momentous day.
8000 and counting runs in whites for him ??#VK100 @Paytm #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/EDZz9kPZwy
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 4, 2022
But the left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya troubled him every few deliveries. Inside edge onto pad, leading edge, one popped almost into the bowler’s hands. Embuldeniya kept hitting a good length around off, but Kohli kept stretching forward to smother them.
In South Africa, he would go through long periods of self-denial before suddenly playing a wayward shot and getting out. In Mohali, after safely keeping out Embuldeniya, he suddenly chose to go back to a ball that had pitched on the same length. This one turned a bit more than he expected, and it was all over. These mistakes have often come out of nowhere, when he’s looked alright otherwise.
Hanuma Vihari soon followed Kohli back to the pavilion on 58 and Shreyas Iyer’s fall made it 228 for 5, after which it was up to Rishabh Pant (96 off 97) and Ravindra Jadeja (batting 45) to revive the score to 357 for 6 at stumps.
However, Kohli doesn’t think he needs to change anything in his preparation process. “I’m preparing the way I always have,” Kohli said. “As long as I am batting well, I am not bothered at all. I have been involved in very important partnerships for the team. Even today, the partnership of 90 (with Vihari) was important for us. I have never been bothered about milestones. These conversations happen on the outside and will continue to happen because we are somehow obsessed about milestones and materialistic achievements.”
Obsessed enough to have made him feel that he was playing his first Test and not his 100th.