1976 kms away from Barbados is Jamaica where on this day, 13 years ago, Virat Kohli started his Test cricket journey.
India faced the West Indies in the 1st Test at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica on their Test tour in 2011.
Fresh from their ODI World Cup triumph in April, Virat was handed the revered Test cap as he became the 268th cricketer to represent India in the longest form of the game.
India won the Test by 63 runs though Kohli scored 4 and 15 in both the innings.
But the quiet start seemed to be the calm before the storm as Virat went on to become the best batsman of his generation and the one of the greatest ever to don Test whites.
13 years down the line, Virat has scored 8848 runs from 113 Test matches, with a highest score of an unbeaten 254 at an average of 49.15, with 29 hundreds and 7 double hundreds.
Virat is the fourth highest run scorer for India only behind Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Rahul Dravid (13265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10122).
Virat succeeded MS Dhoni as Test captain in 2014 and has led India in 68 Test matches with the best win percentage amongst captains who have played 10 matches. He has won 40 Test matches and lost 17.
All these years, Virat has held Test cricket as the pinnacle of international cricket and it was under his captaincy that India won their maiden Test series in Australia after71 years in 2018-19.
Under Virat’s captaincy, India won Test matches in Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies and reached the final of the World Test Championship where they lost to New Zealand.
Virat quit Test captaincy in January 2022 and was succeeded by Rohit Sharma.
With India taking on Afghanistan today, Virat would be looking to make a significant contribution with the bat to make the day more memorable.
