The rising and, arguably, established star of Indian cricket Virat Kohli has a huge fan base that seems to be ever growing. After being endorsed for his skills by some legends of the game, the latest name to join Virat Kohli's roster of admirers is Sir Vivian Richards' son Mali.
Kohli recently scored his maiden first-class double hundred in style at Antigua as India notched up a joint high score against West Indies after declaring at 566. Virat Kohli's performance caught Sir Richards' eye and he was praised by one of the greatest legends of West Indian cricket.
Mali Richards, his son, has played 18 first-class matches before deviating completely in his career and he now owns an art gallery named The House of Creativity. To honour Virat and show exactly how much his performance was appreciated and admired, Mali presented the Indian with a painting.
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“We were excited when we found out that Kohli is going to be Antigua for the first Test. We wanted to do something creative for him but back then we did not know the exact date of his arrival,” Mali told BCCI.TV.
Mali arrived at the team hotel with his father and his business partner, Ron Howell to meet the Indian team skipper and celebrate his personal milestone with him. “We decided to commemorate his maiden double hundred as he registered the milestone here in Antigua. We prepared the entire painting in just one day and came here to present it to him,” he said.
Before the series in West Indies began, Virat Kohli had talked about a meeting with Sir Viv Richards and seemed to be very encouraged by the inspiration that Richards undoubtedly provided. He described parts of the conversation as “words of gold” with the encounter itself being a “memorable moment”.
Sir Richards seemed equally happy to meet the youngster. Immediately after his double hundred, Sir Viv took to his personal website to announce that he had high hopes from Virat Kohli and had no doubt that the Indian would soon establish himself as one of the greatest players of the game and called his knock at Antigua “magnificent”
“I think It was a magnificent hundred. To score a double hundred at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground is a formidable task in terms of what he has achieved. As a batsman myself, it was very pleasing to see and even though it was against the West Indies, I do appreciate seeing class and his was a classy knock.” he said.
Of the four-match series, the second Test is set to be played in Jamaica from July 30.
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