Captain Rohit Sharma on Thursday doffed his hat to predecessor Virat Kohli, who’s set to make his 100th Test appearance on Friday when India take on Sri Lanka in Mohali. Hailing what has been a “brilliant” journey so far in Test cricket for Kohli, Rohit said the team would be looking to do something special in what’s a milestone game for their former skipper.
“Virat has done exceedingly well in this format, changed so many things in the way the team has moved forward and all of that.
“It has been brilliant to watch that, and yeah, it’s been one hell of a ride for him and it will continue to be so in the years to come.
“We definitely want to make it a special one for him. We are all prepared for that, so let’s hope we have a good five days of cricket,” Rohit said on the eve of the opening Test at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
For Rohit, India’s first-ever Test series victory in Australia in 2018-19 is one of the best achievements of the team under Kohli’s leadership. And, Rohit said, if he has to single out one individual innings of Kohli that he would call “standout”, it would be the 119 in the first innings of the 2013 Johannesburg Test.
That Test was both Kohli and Rohit’s first on South African shores. Kohli followed the hundred up with a well-compiled 96 in the second innings. “The pitch was quite challenging with plenty of bounce and most of us were playing a Test match in South Africa for the first time,” Rohit recalled.
“Facing bowlers such as Dale Steyn, (Vernon) Philander, Jacques Kallis was never going to be easy. But the way he batted in the Test, scoring a century in the first innings and getting 90-odd in the second, I think it was one of the best knocks of his that I clearly remember.
“He had got a hundred (123) in Perth (second Test versus Australia) too in (December) 2018, but that Johannesburg innings beats the Perth knock. And for me, that’s his best knock,” Rohit said.
The presence of spectators in Mohali should liven up the atmosphere at the ground, Rohit believes, as he too gets ready for his first-ever Test as India captain. “I’m looking forward to win games and do the right things with the right players in the squad.
“If you look at the last five years of our Test cricket, the whole credit goes to Virat for getting us going in this particular format. “What he has done with the Test team over the years was brilliant to see. I have to just take it from where he has left,” Rohit said.
“We are somewhere middle (fifth) in the World Test Championship table, but honestly, I don’t see we have done anything wrong in the last two-three years in Test cricket.
“We want to improve as a team in every game we play and that’s our benchmark.”
