Photos: Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli's glorious journey to 100 Test matches

The stage is set for Virat Kohli's 100th Test appearance when the master batter steps out against Sri Lanka at Mohali on Friday. Despite being arguably the most influential cricketer in his first decade in international cricket across formats between 2011 and 2020, he has always been a great worshipper of the five-day format. An aggregate of 7962 runs from 99 Tests, with an average of 50.39 and 27 centuries is no mean feat - and there is more to come.

The journey in whites began in 2011 for a young Kohli against the West Indies at a home series. It took him more than three years since his debut in white ball cricket to impress the powers that-be that he could be a good investment for Tests as well.

The first of Kohli's 27 Test centuries did not take long - and it came against a powerful Australia in Adelaide in the 14th innings of his Test career. Kohli hit 116 after coming in at number six in a middle-order which boasted of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

Kohli's chemistry with Sachin Tendulkar, India's batting legend, is all too well known. When a young Kohli and his other teammates chaired an emotional Tendulkar after India's World Cup triumph in Mumbai in 2011, he had famous told the broadcasters that it was a 'payback' time for them to carry Tendulkar on their shoulders as the Little Master had been shouldering the responsibility of Indian batting for years. The picture of a tearful Kohli as Tendulkar was bidding goodbye to the fans at Wankhede Stadium after playing his farewell Test in 2013 is also vivid in the memory.

Enter Kohli the captain: Kohli was barely 25 years old when he was hoisted into Test captaincy, that too midway in a demanding tour of Australia, in 2014 when Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down both from captaincy and Test cricket. A young Kohli was game for the challenge, and captaincy had actually brought out the best phase of his captaincy in the first five years. Kohli has the second highest tally of Test centuries as a captain (20) with South Africa's Graeme Smith at the top with 25 centuries.

Kohli, however, was brought down to earth soon when in his first England tour as captain in 2014, he was repeatedly lured to his doom by James Anderson outside the off stump. He had a nightmarish tour and scrapped together 134 runs in four Tests - leading to a chatter that while Kohli was competent with the pace and bounce of Australian tracks - he was not technically adept to play late in seaming conditions of England. An anomaly which he went to prove wrong during his next tour of England in 2018, where he scored over 500 runs.

The five-year period between 2015 and 2019, saw him at the peak of his craft in not only Tests but even in white ball cricket. In the first 10 years of Test cricket, nobody has amassed as many centuries as Kohli did. The calendar year of 2016, in particular, went like a dream when he hammered 1215 runs in 12 Tests.

Kohli's highest Test score till date is 254 in Pune during South Africa’s tour of India in 2019. The Proteas had enough firepower in their attack in the shape of Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthusamy but it could not deter Kohli in his epic innings comprising of 33 fours and two sixes.

Kohli's passion for Test cricket, and the way the team climbed up to No.1 spot in ICC Test rankings, has been well documented. Team India did exceptionally well under his leadership to make the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against New Zealand last year, though they failed to clear the last hurdle. Indian cricket saw a paradigm shift between end-2021 and 2022 as Kohli is no longer at the helm of any format but the most accomplished batter in the team.

The last two and-a-half years has seen much being written about Kohli's form across all formats, with the drought in international centuries over 27 months becoming the biggest talking point on the eve of his 100th Test match. Incidentally, it was at a Test match - the pink ball Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in 2019 - that his last three-figure innings came. Now free from the stress of captaincy in any format, including that of upcoming IPL, can the master batsman turn the clock back? His legion of fans will know soon.