Djokovic hails Virat for successful Test career; Kane, Neeraj also join
ANI
New Delhi
Serbian tennis icon Novak Djokovic congratulated star Indian batter Virat Kohli for a remarkable Test career on Monday.
Virat sent shockwaves across the cricketing fraternity and the Indian team into a need for a sudden and challenging transition, just days after batter Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the format ahead of India's tour to England of five Tests, which will start the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 campaign.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, took to Instagram to congratulate Virat on a successful Test career, saying, 'Incredible innings!'.
Notably, Virat shares a great bond with Djokovic and has even admitted to exchanging texts with him.
In an interview with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in January last year, Virat said, 'I got in touch with Novak very organically. I was just looking at his Instagram profile once and happened to press his 'Message' button. I thought I would say him 'Hello, maybe.'
'Then I saw a message from him on my DM already. I never saw it myself. The first time I saw my own messages, I saw that he had messaged me himself. Then I was like, let us check if it is a fake account or not. But then I checked it, and it was legitimate.
'Then we started talking, exchanging messages every now and then. I would congratulate him on all of his fantastic achievements,' recalled Virat during that interview.
Virat said that when he got his 50th ODI century during the ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal against New Zealand last year, Djokovic sent him a nice message and put up a story for him, congratulating him.
'There has been mutual admiration and respect. It is nice to connect with global athletes who are excelling at a high level. Collectively, it is sending out a message of inspiration to the next generation in a way,' said Virat.
Various other sporting personalities such as India's World Champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, England and Bayern Munich footballer Harry Kane, Indian table tennis star Manika Batra also congratulated Virat on a successful Test career in the comments section of Virat's official retirement statement on Instagram.
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