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Former India captain Virat Kohli looks set to play his hundred test match behind closed doors against Sri Lanka. This match would kickoff the two-match test series between India and Sri Lanka at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Then the Indian team would travel to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to play the second test.
Punjab Cricket Association Deepak Sharma has confirmed the news in a recent interview. "The first test between India and Sri Lanka will be played behind closed door with no spectators allowed.” Kohli will play his 100th test under Rohit Sharma who will be making his test captaincy debut," he told ANI.
Arguably known as one of the legends of the modern-day game, Kohli made his test debut at the Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica against the West Indies in June 2011. The right-handed batter had a sub-par performance in his maiden Test appearance as he scored 4 off 10 balls and 15 off 53 deliveries. Kohli had to wait for a good six months to score his maiden century at the Adelaide Oval.
The then 23-year-old scored 116 as the Indian team lost the series 4-0 against Australia. But then Kohli turned into a run-machine as he since hit 27 test centuries. In 2016, he became the fifth batter to hit three or more double centuries in a calendar year. Kohli then repeated the feat and also became the first player to put up four double centuries in consecutive Test series.
Virat Kohli’s top batting performances in test cricket were seen against Australia in the 2014-15 Border - Gavaskar Trophy. He scored twin centuries in Adelaide in the first test which India lost. Kohli then scored a historic knock in the boxing day test in Melbourne where he made 169 runs and batted with Ajinkya Rahane to put up a stand of 262 runs.
Despite all his batting performances, the Delhi lad's biggest contribution to Indian cricket has been his captaincy which led India to global domination in the longest format. His leadership also created the current Indian pace battery which is capable of taking 20 wickets efficiently in any given conditions. India under Kohli was also ranked as the number one test team for a span of five consecutive years starting from the 2015-16 season.
