"He still has another 6-7 years of international cricket left in him" - Dilip Vengsarkar ahead of Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match

Virat Kohli is currently playing his 100th Test match. The right-hander became the 71st player in the world to reach the milestone as India take on Sri Lanka in the first of the two-match Test series in Mohali. In 99 Tests so far, Kohli has amassed 7,962 runs at an average of 50.39.

Kohli’s contribution to India in the Test arena requires no elucidation. It has been a storied career, one that began against the West Indies in Jamaica in 2011. He made the Indian Test unit of late 2010s and early 2020s worthy of being compared with the legendary teams of the past like Clive Lloyd’s West Indies, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting’s Australia and Graeme Smith’s South Africa.

On the individual front, Kohli has been going through a century drought for the past two-and-a-half years. The latest of his 27 Test hundreds came against Bangladesh at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on 22nd November 2019. Leading India in their maiden pink-ball Test, he struck a classy 136 off 194 balls and guided his team to victory by an innings and 46 runs.

Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, however, opines that Kohli’s lack of hundreds in recent times doesn’t imply that he is in poor form. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda on Thursday evening, Vengsarkar said:

“He (Kohli) is still the best in the world. The way he has worked on his fitness and batting over the years has been exemplary. He is an inspiration to millions of people.”

“I knew Virat was destined for greatness when I first saw him” – Dilip Vengsarkar

Kohli’s illustrious career is a testament to India’s robust youth system. The flamboyant batter shot to fame in 2008 after leading India to their second U-19 World Cup title in Malaysia. He made his international debut against Sri Lanka soon after. Yet, only a few would have imagined that the then chubby boy from Delhi would go on to become an all-time great with gargantuan success across all formats.

Vengsarkar, who was the chairman of selectors when Kohli made his international debut, saw the latter for the first time during a U-16 tournament in Kolkata. Kohli played for Delhi schools against Mumbai schools in the tournament.

A few years later, after India’s triumphant U-19 World Cup campaign, the Vengsarkar-helmed national selection committee picked Kohli for the Emerging Players tournament in Australia. Scoring 206 runs in six matches at an average of 41.20, Kohli finished the tournament on a high and earned his maiden national call-up for the five-match away ODI series against Sri Lanka in August 2008.

When asked if he had to face resistance from his colleagues while giving Kohli his international break, Vengsarkar told Sportskeeda:

“No, I didn’t face any resistance from my fellow selectors. We were on the same wavelength and they completely supported my decision. I knew that Virat was destined for greatness when I saw him for the first time.”

On Kohli’s captaincy legacy

Addressing the media in a pre-match press conference on Thursday, current India captain Rohit Sharma eulogized Kohli’s Test career, calling it “one hell of a ride”. Wishes kept pouring in from all quarters for the former India captain throughout Thursday, and rightly so. After all, Kohli is statistically India’s most successful Test captain ever.

Under Kohli’s leadership, Team India have won 40 times in 68 Tests at a healthy win percentage of 58.82 percent. Only Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48) and Steve Waugh (41) have won more Tests than him as captains of their national teams. Kohli, on the other hand, enjoys a better win percentage than all but Waugh (71.9 percent) and Ponting (62.3 percent) in this format.

Plenty has been said and written about the events that led Kohli to relinquish his Test captaincy earlier this year following the 1-2 series defeat in South Africa. But one can be certain about the fact that his leadership stint will be talked about with reverence for many years to come.

What, according to Vengsarkar, was the hallmark of Kohli’s Test captainy? Crediting Kohli for ushering in a fast bowling revolution in India, Vengsarkar stated:

“Virat is a bowler’s captain. He has brought about a fast bowling revolution in India because of which we now have an army of fast bowlers. This was not the case until a few years ago. The manner in which he motivates his bowlers and everyone else around him is so infectious.”

The 65-year-old also praised Kohli for introducing a fitness culture to the Indian team, saying:

“Along with skills, fitness has become an important yardstick for selection now. Virat has introduced this culture to the team by taking his fitness to another level. Hence, you’ll see that our fielding standards have improved drastically over the years.”

“The twin hundreds in Adelaide are Virat’s best Test knocks” - Vengsarkar

Nicknamed the “Lord of Lord’s” for his astounding batting exploits at the hallowed venue, Vengsarkar feels that Kohli’s best batting form coincided with his captaincy tenure. He said:

“He loves challenges and I think captaincy brought out the best in him. He was a fantastic captain who always led by example.”

Kohli owns the record for the most Test runs (5,864 at an average of 54.80) by an Indian Test captain. Only Graeme Smith ( 8,659), Allan Border (6,623) and Ponting (6,542) have scored more runs than him as skipper.

Kohli made his Test captaincy debut at the Adelaide Oval in the first match of India’s tour of Australia in 2014. It was the same series in which MS Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket after the third match and chose Kohli as his heir in the longest format.

Even though India lost the first Test by 48 runs, Kohli’s aggressive leadership style made him the toast of the nation. Vengsarkar thinks that the Adelaide Test marked the turning point in his Test career. He said:

“I’m sure that the match must have given Virat a lot of confidence because he has not looked back since.”

Vengsarkar also rated Kohli’s twin hundreds (115 and 141) in that Test as his best knocks in the longest format.

On the road ahead for Kohli

The wait for Kohli’s 71st international ton has been excruciatingly long, but it will be one worth waiting for if he gets the monkey off his back in his 100th Test. Vengsarkar refused to be perturbed by Kohli’s century drought, quipping:

“It will come when it has to come. He seems to be in good touch, so why [do you] unnecessarily bother about it?”

When asked whether Kohli should give up his T20I duties to focus more on Tests and ODIs, Vengsarkar, who himself played 116 Tests for India, replied:

“It depends on his motivational level. If he can keep his motivation and fitness intact, I’m sure he can play international cricket for another six to seven years."

The 1983 World Cup-winner signed off by saying: