'Longevity comes with a lot of hard work, discipline, adaptability' - Rahul Dravid extols Virat Kohli as latter gears up for 500th game

India’s star batter Virat Kohli will play his 500th international game when India clashes against West Indies in the second Test match of the ongoing series. Indian head coach Rahul Dravid hailed Kohli for this feat and said that over the course of his coaching tenure, he has learned a lot from the 34-year-old.

Speaking of the series, Team India won the first Test match at Dominica. The Rohit Sharma-led side are currently leading 1-0 in the two matches series. In the first game, Virat scored 76 runs off 182 balls as the Indian side managed to win the game by an innings and 141 runs. 

"His numbers and his stats speak for themselves - it’s all there in the book. For me, what’s been great to see first-hand has been the effort and the work that he puts in behind the scenes when no one is watching. That is reflected in the fact that he has been able to play 500 games," said Dravid while addressing the press conference. 

“You don’t have to say anything. Just by the way you conduct yourself, the way you go about practices, your fitness, [that] becomes an inspiration for a lot of other young players who are coming through the system. Hopefully, they follow that and they are inspired by Virat to play so many games. Longevity comes with a lot of hard work, discipline, adaptability. He’s shown all of that, so long may it continue,” he further added.

It’s nice to see his journey, I’ve learnt a lot from him: Dravid 

Speaking of Kohli's numbers, the 34-year-old has so far played 110 Tests, 274 ODIs, and 115 T20Is in his 15-year-long career. Virat Kohli is also India’s second-highest run-getter with a score of 25,461 runs at an average of 53.48 and has scored 75 centuries and 131 fifties in international cricket for the Indian side. It will be interesting to see if ‘King Kohli’ will score his 29th hundred in the second Test match starting on July 20 at Port of Spain. 

“It’s nice to see his journey. When I played, he was a youngster coming through. To get to know him personally as well over the last 18 months, it’s been good fun. I’ve really enjoyed it and I hope he has as well. I’ve learnt a lot from him,” concluded India’s head coach.