India vs West Indies: 'Played it like it was his fifth match', Dinesh Karthik heaps praise on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli followed up his knock of 76 in Dominica with a century in Trinidad, which also turned out to be his 500th international cricket match. On Friday, Virat Kohli brought up his 29th Test century when India took on West Indies in the second Test in Port of Spain. Kohli got to the milestone off 180 deliveries, but was eventually dismissed for 121 after being run-out by Alzarri Joseph in the 99th over. Veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik had an interesting take on Kohli’s knock, saying that the 34-year-old was playing as though if it was his fifth match, and not 500th. “We can all say about the lovely shots that Kohli played, the cover drives and the pulls. Here is a man playing his 500th match, but he played it like it was his fifth match. That hunger, on a pitch that probably really didn’t aid stroke-making, he fought through it. We saw that in the first Test as well, and we are seeing it again now,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz. Karthik credited Kohli’s mental toughness, reiterating what Rahul Dravid had commented on the Delhi-born cricketer. “If you heard Rahul Dravid speak about him, the two things that he said were respect and his sacrifices. You can see that shining through in this innings yet again. Not at his fluent best, for sure, but he made it count. Just making sure that he stood there. Played those tough balls out. Just making sure that he is mentally there, and making it count for Team India,” said Karthik. Kohli’s century, along with fifties from R Ashwin and Ravichandran led India to 438 in their first innings. In reply, West Indies were 86/1 having lost Tagenarine Chanderpaul for 33. The hosts trail India by another 362 runs.