Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Indian talisman, Virat Kohli recalls his first Test double century, which happened on India’s tour of the West Indies in 2016. Kohli has fond memories of his first 200 in the Test as it came in Antigua in front of Sir Viv Richards. Interestingly the 34-year-old now has seven double centuries in the longest format of the game, which is the highest among all Indian batters. Also, Kohli made his Test debut in West Indies, when Team India toured the Caribbean side in 2011.
In several interactions, the veteran West Indies batter has pointed out the similarities between him and Kohli. To add to it, the former Indian skipper credits Sachin Tendulkar and Richards for changing how the game was played in their era. The destructive Caribbean batter scored 8540 runs in Test with an average of over 50 and 6721 ODI runs with the highest score of 189*. However, the Indian star batter in the year 2016 at Antugia, scored 200 runs as India won by an innings and 92 runs.
“My favourite memory obviously is Antigua. I got my first-ever double hundred in Test cricket in Antigua in front of Sir Vivian Richards. That for me was a very, very special moment and then he met me in the evening as well and congratulated me. It can’t get any better than that,” Kohli said while speaking on Star Sports’ show ‘Follow the Blues’.
In the end, it is pertinent to mention that Kohli’s first double century came when the batter was in the form of his life andr averaged over 70 in all three formats of the game in that year. He smashed a total of seven centuries in different formats of the game in the year 2016.
Kohli’s current form surely needs the touch of 2016 as now, Kohli has only one Test century since November 2019. Also, after Virat’s recent failure in World Test Championship (WTC) Final, he would be eager to make a mark against West Indies.