I felt like I was making my debut: Kohli

Former skipper feted on reaching 100-Test milestone

In a day and age where many players in their 30s prefer to play one or maximum two formats of the game to prolong their careers in an increasingly hectic cricketing calendar, Virat Kohli is an exception. Although he values Test cricket as the foremost format and takes great pride in wearing the whites, he doesn’t ignore one-dayers or T20Is. For that matter, even the IPL.

For the last 12 years or so, he’s been actively involved in all formats and excelled in them too. He’s perhaps the only batsman in world cricket to average over 50 in all of them — Test (50.39), ODI (58.07), T20Is (51.50). He’s even IPL’s leading run scorer (6283) with five centuries and 42 fifties. It’s one thing to ace one format but another to consistently perform exceptionally in all of them. Obviously, it wound’t have been possible without extreme hard work, dedication, determination and perseverance.

Kohli, playing a momentous 100th Test here against Sri Lanka, was proud of his achievement and hailed his longevity and success to immense discipline. “I have played three formats of the game and IPL for the last 10-11 years consistently and that obviously is a big challenge in itself,” said Kohli at the post-day press conference.

“From memory if I can remember I have missed only a couple of Test matches through injury and one of them happened recently in South Africa and I am immensely proud of how I have handled myself and handled my physique and fitness levels to come this far. I’ve been able to achieve it because of a lot of discipline and lifestyle changes. If you don’t have discipline in life, you won’t be able to come this far and switching between formats and intensity of the formats and something that people don’t understand but as individual you understand what it takes to get to this point.”

Kohli was feted on the morning of the game for becoming the 12th Indian to play 100 Tests and the Delhiite said he felt like a debutante. “Rahul (Dravid) bhai actually asked me in the morning how are you feeling and I said I am feeling like I was making my debut. I had butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t realise the magnitude of the event till things got closer to today. It was a moment which was very, very special and I did feel very nervous walking out to bat.”

Kohli made a good-looking 45 before being undone by an arm ball from Lasith Embuldeniya that left him shocked. It was the first time Kohli was batting after relinquishing his Test captaincy. When asked if the dynamics have changed, Kohli said his only motto is to score big runs and drive the team forward.

“As a specialist batter, I have said this before. Even before I became captain, it was exactly the same. It never changed and it never wavered and I always been a responsible player and took responsibility in different things even when I wasn’t captain. Obviously captain brings in lot more responsibility and a captain brings that and mindset was exactly the same and nothing changed.”

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