Former India skipper Virat Kohli is set to play his 100th Test when India take on Sri Lanka in the upcoming first Test at PCA Stadium in Mohali on March 04. Kohli will become the 12th Indian to achieve such a landmark in the longest format after some prominent names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.
Kohli, who made his Test debut in 2011, has played some of the most memorable knocks in his illustrious career that has seen him accumulating close to 8000 runs in 99 Test matche﷽s at an outstanding average of 50.39.
The Delhi-born has 27 hundreds and 28 half-centuries to his name in the red-ball format. Although, choosing one innings of Kohli is a challenging task for anyone. But his teammate and current Indian captain Rohit Sharma has picked one innings of Kohli that the Mumbaikar rates better than the rest of Kohli’s knocks.
According to Rohit, the one knock from Kohli that will always remain special was the latter’s tremendous century in 2013 against South Africa. Rohit reckoned that Kohli has played several incredible innings for Team India, but his batting display against South Africa on a bouncyꦇ track was remarkable.
“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,” said Rohit said on the eve of Kohli’s 100th Test in Mohali, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Rohit recalled the innings and said that on a challenging track, facing the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis and then hitting a𒆙 century was quite sensational.
“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,” added Rohit.