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Updated March 14th, 2023 at 13:39 IST

'You made me wait for a long time': Rahul Dravid tells Kohli after he breaks Test century drought | WATCH

Virat Kohli scored a sublime 186 runs against Australia in the last Test match of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This was Kohli's 75th international ton across formats

Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid
Twitter (@BCCI) | Image:self
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Former India captain Virat Kohli ended the Border-Gavaskar trophy on a high note. The southpaw who was struggling to score big in the longest format of the game ended up scoring 186 against Australia in the drawn fourth Test, ending a three-year wait to get his 28th Test century. The Indian batter has admitted to the fact that not being able to make any substantial contribution to team India's cause for a long time was "eating him up" and he let the expectations overwhelm him a bit because he was desperate to score a big Test hundred. In a conversation with head coach Rahul Dravid, the 34-year-old Kohli revealed that the weight of expectations became a bit tough to handle for him.

Virat addressed his century drought and said:

Honestly, I've let the complications grow on me a bit because of my shortcomings. The desperation to get to the three-figure mark is something that can grow on you as a batsman. I let that happen to me to a certain extent. But a flip side to it is, I'm not a guy who is happy with 40-45. I take a lot of pride in performing for the team. Why am I not able to get that big score for the team? Because I took pride in the fact that when the team needed me, I stood up, scoring in difficult conditions. The fact that I wasn't able to do that, was bothering me. It's not like when Virat Kohli should stand out. When I'm batting on 40, I know I can get a 150. That was eating me up a lot. If I've to be brutally honest, it does become a little difficult as the moment you step out of the hotel room, right from the guy outside, to the guy in the lift, the bus driver everyone is saying we want a hundred. So, it does play on your mind all the time but that's also the beauty of playing for so long to have these complications come up and overcome these challenges

The former RCB skipper dished out uncharacteristic 364-ball innings, spanning more than eight hours and 30 minutes. It was his 75th international century across formats. Kohli insisted that he never cared about milestones in his career.

Coach Rahul Dravid also praised Kohli and said:

I've seen him as a player, seen a lot of hundreds of him on TV and after I took over the coach about 15-16 months ago, was a bit desperate to see him score a Test hundred and enjoy it from the comfort of the dressing room. To be able to enjoy and relax a Test hundred. It was a beauty. You made me wait a long time but it was an absolute privilege to watch an innings and the way you constructed it

Before this match, Kohli's last Test century had come in India's maiden Day/Night Test against Bangladesh in November 2019. Virat Kohli so far has played 108 Test matches and has scored 8416 runs at an average of 48.93.

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Published March 14th, 2023 at 13:39 IST

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