Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'Hope crowd is allowed. He deserves huge ovation': Gavaskar finds silver lining after injured Kohli misses 2nd Test
Kohli missed the second Test against South Africa owing to an upper back spasm.
Team India suffered a huge blow on Monday as Test skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out of the crucial second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, but former India captain Sunil Gavaskar found a silver lining.
_1641201447061_1641201502353.jpg "Virat Kohli; Sunil Gavaskar")
With India taking a 1-0 lead in Centurion, following a 113-run win in what made the visitors the first Asian team to beat South Africa in their citadel, India were eyeing a series win at the Wanderers, where they have never lost a Test match in five appearances. The second Test would have been Kohli's 99th appearance in the format, subsequently making the final tie in Cape Town his 100th.
With Kohli missing the Johannesburg Test, owing to a upper back spasm, the 33-year-old is now expected to play his 100th Test in India, at his adopted home ground, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Gavaskar feels that it will be a fantastic experience for Kohli, who has captained Royal Challengers Bangalore for many years, whose home ground is the Chinnaswamy. The veteran cricketer also hopes crowd will be allowed during the Test match because he feels that Kohli deserves a huge ovation for his record appearance in Test.
"The next one is in Cape Town. The 100th Test match will be in Bangalore. And of course, him being the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for such a long time it will be a fantastic experience. We have to see if crowd is allowed there, that is also important. I hope it is allowed because he deserves a huge ovation from the crowd for his 100th Test," he said on air.
India's next Test assignment will be the Sri Lanka series at home. India will play two Tests in the contest with the opener in February 25 in Bengaluru and the second in Mohali starting March 5. Kohli will become the 11th Indian player to feature in 100 Test matches joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (200) and Dravid (163) among few others.
