Roseau (Dominica), July 12 India head coach Rahul Dravid has recalled Virat Kohli's Test debut in 2011 in West Indies, saying that he had seen something special in the right-handed batter.
In 2011, Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica hosted a Test match during India's tour of the West Indies. A young Kohli was also part of the playing eleven for the match and scored 30 runs in the first innings as the game ended in a draw, leading to India’s 1-0 series win.
"When I came here back in 2011, that was very special for the island and the ground here. To come back here in a different capacity as a coach and to bring your team here, I think Virat was the only one who was there when we came here back in 2011.
I remember Virat playing his first Test series with the Indian team. He was this young kid, who had done well in ODI cricket and was finding his feet in Test cricket. But you could see that there was something special talent out there," said Dravid in a video posted by the BCCI on Wednesday.
Since that tour of West Indies in 2011, Kohli has become the mainstay of the Indian Test batting line-up, apart from being the captain of the side.
"You could see he would be there for a while. How long you can never say, so I think he can be very proud of his journey. I certainly never thought I would coach and come here ten years later.
But seeing him grow from being a young player on that trip to a senior veteran has been nice. It has been great for me to see that journey and I think of myself as someone who is a young coach who is starting out his journey as well. So I think the tables have turned a little bit," added Dravid, who has been India’s head coach since November 2021.
Asked on his return to Dominica for the first time since 2011, Kohli said, "When we went to the dressing room and then to practice, I remember my first series here as a Test player and this is the country where it all started, The Caribbean. It is just amazing to be able to come back here 12 years later, having played more than 100 Test matches. I would never have imagined anything like this."
Ahead of India starting the third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), Kohli opened up on his chat with Dravid, ahead of the Test series opener in Dominica.
"His comment about being a young coach is a humble one as he’s been a coach for a long time now. I was a youngster and he was a senior, established Test player who we all looked up to," said Kohli.
"It is quite amazing, "I told Rahul Bhai as well yesterday, ‘I’m sure you would have never imagined that 12 years later we would come back to the same ground and you’d be the head coach and I would have played over a 100 games’. No one would have guessed that one.
So I’m just blessed that we are the only two members from the last trip still here in different capacities. But, it is like life has come full circle and the journeys have been quite amazing," he concluded.
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