The Serbian tennis icon Novak Djokovic congratulated the star of the Indian striker Virat Kohli for a remarkable test career on Monday. Virat has sent shock waves through the fraternity of cricket and the Indian team in the need for a sudden and difficult transition, only a few days after drummer Rohit Sharma announced his format retirement before the tour of India in England of five tests, which will start the World Championship of the World Test of the 2025-27 ICC test.
Djokovic, a champion of the Grand Colem at 24 times, went to Instagram to congratulate Virat for a successful test career, saying: “Incredible sleeves!”. In particular, Virat shares a big link with Djokovic and even admitted to exchange texts with him.
In an interview with the Cricket Control Council in India (BCCI) in January of last year, Virat said: “I contacted Novak with Novak. I just looked at his Instagram profile once and I arrived by pressing his” message “button. I thought I would say it” Hello, maybe “. Then, I saw a message on my DM.
Virat said that when he obtained his 50th century ODI at the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand last year, Djokovic sent him a nice message and put a story for him, congratulating him.
“There has been mutual admiration and respect. It is pleasant to connect with global athletes that excel at a high level. Collectively, it sends an inspiration message to the next generation in a way,” said Virat.
Virat also said that he had a lot of respect for Djokovic, his trip as a player and his passion for physical form. He soon expressed the hope of meeting the Serbian icon.
Various other sports personalities such as the world javelin champion of the javelin of India Neeraj Chopra, England and the footballer of Bayern Munich, Harry Kane, the star of Indian table tennis Manika Batra also congratulated Virat for a successful test career in the comments of the official retirement declaration of Virat on Instagram.
He made his debut in the test in June 2011 against the Antilles. While his first test tour was a massive disappointment with only 76 points in five rounds, a young Virat made a name for serious blows and counterattack in the coming days.
His ascent as a test player started with his young daughter against Australia in Adelaide in 2012, when he made 116 in 213 balls. In a tour where no other could touch 300 points for India and the giants like Sachin Tentulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag seemed in the shadow of their dominant self, Virat is at the top of India with 300 races in four tests, including a century and fifty.
Between 2011 and 2015, he carried out 2,994 points in 41 tests at an average of 44.03, with 11 centuries and 12 fifty in 72 rounds.
Between 2016 and 2019, Virat experienced one of the first strongest mats of all time for a test cricket player, accumulating 4,208 points in 43 tests at an average of 66.79, with 16 centuries and 10 fifty in 69 rounds and the best score of 254 *. It also included seven double centuries, most of them by a captain in the history of cricket.
However, the 2020s were not great for the superstar striker, having only made 2,028 points in 39 tests to a disappointing average of 30.72, with only three centuries and nine to display in 69 rounds. His figure received a boost from a fine 2023, where he made 671 points in eight tests at an average of 55.91, with two centuries and two fifty in 12 rounds.
During all this period, Virat fought against certain notable weaknesses in the format, in particular against deliveries outside the outstanding line and against the spinners.
He finished last year with only 382 points in 10 tests to a shocking average of 22.47, with only a century and fifty in 19 sleeves. His latest test outing was the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour in Australia in November-January, where he only made 190 points in nine rounds on average of 23.75, his century in Perth being a culminating point.
This century was his first since July 2023, when he struck a ton against the Antilles in Port of Spain in 2023. In addition, his last century in the country came against Australia at the beginning of 2023 during the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Ahmedabad.
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