The BCCI President said, very few players have played 100 Test matches in India and Kohli deserves every praise for reaching this splendid position.
India's Virat Kohli will join a group of 11 Indian cricketers to play 100 or more Test matches against Sri Lanka in Mohali on Friday. One of that elite list is Sourav Ganguly, who is now the president of the BCCI. Kohli's tenure as India's captaincy over the past few months ended on a bitter note. Kohli, without naming Ganguly, had a public disagreement over the sequence of events leading up to his resignation as T20I captain. He later lost the ODI captaincy and also resigned as Test captain.
Speaking from London, where he is on a short family vacation, Ganguly declined to re-watch the episode. However, he was happy to welcome Kohli to the 100-Test club and promised to personally "watch Virat's 100th Test match" in Mohali.
"Initially, you need to be a very good player to get there," Ganguly said. “Very few people have played 100 Test matches in Indian cricket. This is a wonderful landmark. Virat is a great player and deserves every part of it."
Kohli made his India debut in limited overs in 2008, the same year that Ganguly retired from Tests. By then Ganguly had played limited overs cricket and Kohli's Test debut would be three years later. "I haven't played with him. But I have always followed his game." When did I start his career and how after few years it took a different turn and it has gone to greatness now.
Kohli was seen as the successor to Sachin Tendulkar and was the man who came forward to bat after Tendulkar was dismissed in the final Test in Mumbai. Since then, Kohli has held the position of being India's No. 4 batsman. Ganguly said, "When you play at this level the expectations are always there. I don't compare different generations. But whatever number he has batted at, whether it is No. 4 in Test matches or limited overs cricket I at number 3." He has batted brilliantly.
"His technique, his positivity, his footwork, his balance... I love it all," he said. “Most of all, the way Virat changed his game in England after 2014, when he was struggling. I watched that Test series because I was working there as a commentator. And he had a remarkable five years after that. It usually happens like this. I saw that between 2002 and 2005 with Rahul Dravid. You see great players in these stages where they are at their peak. Sachin had many."
Interestingly, the Mohali Test match will be Kohli's first after seven years only as a player and not as a leader.
"It needs some adjustments. But I don't think it's too difficult," Ganguly said. Didn't score a century till time. But he is such a good player that doesn't go through it continuously. He will go through this phase too. He knows how to score a century otherwise he wouldn't get 70 of them. As a former player "I know he will start scoring them again. He has huge potential, so it's just a matter of time."