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Virat Kohli, the former India captain, gave his first interview after India lost the ODI World Cup 2023 final to Australia last month at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The 35-year-old spoke about how playing a long innings and winning a Test match is probably the most special for him in the build-up to India’s two-match series against South Africa.
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On Tuesday, December 26, India are scheduled to play the first of two Tests versus South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion before they travel to Cape Town to play the New Year’s Test at the Newlands from January 3 onwards. Notably, the Indian cricket team has never won a Test series in the rainbow nation, a record they would like to break this time around.
Just four days before the start of the all-important Test series for India, Virat Kohli had left for home due to a “family emergency,” but he is expected to be back in South Africa prior to the first Test. In the meantime, Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the South Africa versus India Test series, released an interview with Virat Kohli, wherein he spoke about the value of the longest format of the game in his career.
Watch the first interview of Virat Kohli after the ODI World Cup final loss for India here:
The former India captain said, “Test cricket to me is the foundation of the game. It's history. It's culture. It's heritage. It's everything. To come out on the other side at the end of four days, five days or whatever the test goes on, it's a different feeling from anything else that you experience. As an individual, as a team, the job satisfaction of having played a long innings for your team and making your team win a Test match is probably the most special for me.”
“I am a traditionalist you can say, so for me playing in whites, playing Test cricket is everything. That’s what I have grown up on. And I am really honoured that I have been able to play more than 100 Tests for my country and I managed to pursue my dreams of being a Test cricketer,” Virat Kohli concluded.
Test cricket to me is the real test: Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, the Indian Test captain, talked about how Test cricket is a “very very special format,” before he leads the national team in the two-match series against South Africa. The 36-year-old said, “Test cricket is obviously a very very special format. As a sportsman you want to be challenged every day. And you have to best on all five days to win the Test match. So Test cricket to me is the real test of everything that you have as a person, as a cricketer, and as a sportsman.”
