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SpORTS MARCH 11, 2022 | The Indian Eye 42

Sri Lanka tour of india

tributes to Warne, respect for Kohli

and a plan against visitors

After doing a clean sweep over Sri Lanka in the T20 series, Team India will look forward to continuing their
dominance in the two-match Test series against the Lankan Lions

OUR BUREAU
Mohali/New Delhi
n the ongoing first Test between
India and Sri Lanka, both teams
iwalked out on Day 2 wearing black
armbands in memory of leg-spinner
Shane Warne. Warne passed away on
Friday, aged 52 due to a suspected
heart attack. India and Sri Lanka also
observed a minute of silence before
the start of the play to condole the de-
mise of Warne and Rodney Marsh.
“A minute’s silence was observed
before the start of play on Day 2 of
the first Test for Rodney Marsh and Sri Lankan and Indian cricket team players observe a minute’s silence in memory of former Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Rodney
Shane Warne who passed away yester- Marsh before the start of the 2nd-day of the first test match between India and Sri Lanka, at PCA Stadium, in Mohali on Saturday. (ANI Photo)
day. The Indian Cricket Team will also
be wearing black armbands today,” an Shane also captained Australia in 11 dream of playing for India. After play- same,” said Gavaskar.
official statement from BCCI stated.
One-Day Internationals, winning 10 ing for the country and you come to Earlier this year, Kohli stepped
and losing just once. your 100th Test, it is an incredible feel- down as the Test leader but it was not
warne was one of the most in- ing. Reaching the 100th Test means before the batter left a lasting legacy as
fluential cricketers in history. teaM india GiVeS koHLi you have played for the country very a captain in the longest format of the
successfully. No carrier will be smooth,
game.
He almost single-handedly rein- Guard of Honour in HiS there will be highs and lows,” said Ga- Kohli holds the record for most
100tH teSt
vented the art of leg-spin when Rohit Sharma-led Team India on vaskar in a video posted on the official Test appearances as India Test cap-
Twitter handle of BCCI.
tain (68) and he also holds the record
he burst onto the international Saturday gave a guard of honour to “Whether Kohli is fielding or go- for most Test wins by an Indian cap-
scene in the early 1990s, and maverick batter Virat Kohli in the bat- ing out to bat, the crowd will lift him tain (40). Only Graeme Smith, Ricky
ter’s 100th Test.
Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won
up. That is what crowds do, especially
by the time he retired from in- When India walked out to the when it is a home crowd. Everyone will more matches than Kohli as captain in
ternational cricket in 2007, he field on Day 2 of the ongoing Test be wanting him to get a hundred in his Test cricket.
Kohli had first led the side in Test
100th Test. His has been an incredible
against Sri Lanka here in Mohali, the
had become the first bowler to entire Team stood together to give journey, I remember him making his cricket in 2014 against Australia. His
reach 700 test wickets. Kohli a guard of honour. Kohli scored debut in the West Indies in 2011, even last game as captain was the Cape
45 runs in the first innings of the ongo- there you could see a fire in him,” he Town Test in South Africa, which In-
ing Test and he was dismissed by Las- added. dia lost by seven wickets. Filling the
A central figure in Australia’s ICC ith Embuldeniya. Kohli was slated to play his 100th shoes of MS Dhoni was not going to
Cricket World Cup triumph in 1999, Former India skipper Sunil Ga- Test during the South Africa series be easy, but Kohli quickly cemented
when he was player of the match in vaskar has said that Virat Kohli has earlier this year, but as fate has it, he his position as one of the best thinkers
both the semi-final and the final, Wis- always had that fire in his belly since will reach the milestone in India itself the country has seen in Test cricket.
den Cricketers’ Almanack recognized his Test debut and how he is unique in with a 50 per cent crowd in attendance He had last scored a century in
Shane’s achievements by naming him terms of getting under the skin of the at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. international cricket in 2019 against
as one of its Five Cricketers of the bowlers. “To provoke a fast bowler takes Bangladesh and since then, the entire
Twentieth Century. As India take on Sri Lanka in the something else. Kohli is one of the nation is waiting eagerly for the batter
Warne finished his international first Test of the two-match series, bat- rare batters who likes to sledge bowl- to register his 71st ton.
career with 708 Test wickets and a fur- ter Virat Kohli will achieve the mile- ers. He has been different, he likes to One can just hope he registers
ther 293 in One-Day Internationals, stone of playing 100 matches in the get under their skin. He is like Javed the milestone in his 100th Test and if
placing him second in the list of all- longest format. “Playing 100th Test for Miandad in that sense. His progress it does happen, it would mean that the
time international wicket-takers be- your country is an incredible feeling, has been phenomenal, the consisten- stars truly aligned for a once-in-a-gen-
hind his great friend and rival Muttiah all of us when we were kids playing cy with which he has played, the 100th eration batter.
Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (1,347). in the compounds of our house, we Test and beyond should be more of the Continued at next page... >>

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