File photo of Virat Kohli prior to the West Indies tour©Twitter
Virat Kohli is all set to emulate a unique performance by Sachin Tendulkar in international cricket on India’s upcoming tour of the West Indies. Kohli can become the second ever Indian cricketer in the history of the sport to play against a father-son duo in Tests away from home. Kohli played against West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul on the 2011 tour and this time he will most likely face his son Tagenarine Chanderpaul. Tendulkar achieved this exact feat in 2011 when he took on Shaun Marsh in Australia – nearly 19 years after playing his father Geoff Marsh.
Team India is all set for the all-format series against the West Indies, which begins on July 12. The series will consist of two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is. After the debacle in the World Test Championship final against Australia last month, the Rohit Sharma-led side will aim to start this cycle with a win.
As the first Test of the series approaches, Kohli highlighted some of his favorite memories of playing in the Caribbean and revealed how he met West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards.
“My favorite memory is of course Antigua. I got my first ever double hundred in Test cricket in Antigua for Sir Vivian Richards. That was a very, very special moment for me and then he also met me in the evening and congratulated me. It was better than It can’t be,” Kohli said during a speech on Star Sports’ Follow the Blues show.
On the Caribbean circuits, the ‘Holy Trinity’ of the Indian batting order – skipper Rohit Sharma, peerless Virat Kohli and comeback man Ajinkya Rahane – will have more than one job.
Virat Kohli needs some hard knocks as he hasn’t done much in the format for a long time. The West Indies’ shrewd pacemakers could exploit his problems beyond the off-stump channel and a series of low scores will again raise questions if the benchmark for dealing with a Cheteshwar Pujara is any different than dealing with him.
Both Kohli and Pujara have averaged below 30 for the past three years, but only the Saurashtra batsman could withstand criticism and eventually got the ax from the side.
With PTI inputs
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