Team India, Virat Kohli, and his fans are gearing up for a historic occasion on Thursday at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, as the 34-year-old will become only the 4th Indian cricketer, and the 10th player overall, ever to feature in 500 international matches when India take on West Indies in the 2nd Test of the ongoing series.
Among Indians, the three other cricketers to reach this milestone are Sachin Tendulkar (664), MS Dhoni (535), and Rahul Dravid (504).
Rahul Dravid is currently with Virat Kohli in Trinidad in the head coach capacity. It was during Rahul Dravid’s last Test match on the 2011/12 Australia tour that Kohli signaled his arrival in Test cricket with a stunning century in Adelaide, the match turned out to be the last Test for Dravid.
The effort and work Virat Kohli puts behind the scenes: Rahul Dravid
Ahead of the Trinidad Test, Rahul Dravid spoke at length about Virat Kohli, what is the secret of Kohli’s longevity, his consistency for over 15 years in international cricket, and more. Dravid touched on the point why Virat Kohli is a role model for not just the upcoming cricketers, but for his teammates and peers from other nations as well.
The India head coach hailed Kohli for his incredible work ethic and hard work that he puts behind the scenes when no one is watching.
“He’s a real inspiration to so many players within this team without a doubt, to so many boys and girls in India,” Dravid said. “His numbers and stats speak for itself, his performances – it’s all there in the book. But I think for me what’s great to see first hand is the effort and work he puts behind the scenes when no one’s watching. That’s reflecting in the fact that he’s going to be playing 500 games.
“He’s still very strong, very fit, the energy and enthusiasm despite playing 500 games and being around here for 12-13 years now, it’s truly fantastic. That’s not come easy, that’s come because of a lot of hard work behind the scenes, lot of sacrifices that he has made through his career and he’s willing to continue to make. That’s something that is great for a coach, you can see a lot of young players will look to that and be inspired by that.”
Virat Kohli has 75 international centuries, a tally bettered by only Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 hundreds. Ponting is third with 71. Among the current active players, the next best is Joe Root with 46 centuries.
His 46 ODI centuries tally is only behind Tendulkar’s 49 in the format.
India currently lead the series 1-0 after the massive win in Dominica.
