Virat Kohli still has time for greater milestones: Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly knows how momentous an occasion it would be for Virat Kohli when he steps out to play his 100th Test on Friday but the BCCI boss and former national captain is confident that the superstar batter will celebrate greater milestones going forward in his career.

In a video message shared by the BCCI's official Twitter handle, Ganguly congratulated Kohli, saying it would a dream come true moment for him when he takes the field against Sri Lanka in the opening Test here.

The 33-year-old Kohli will become the 12th Indian cricketer after Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma to play 100 Tests.

"It's a huge landmark in Indian cricket, playing 100 Test matches is something that you dream of when you start playing cricket for your country. It's a great moment for Virat, it's momentous for Indian cricket," Ganguly said in his message.

"I have personally been in that 100 Test match situation and I realise, how momentous and how humongous the occasion can be.

"Virat has had a great journey, exceptional achievements, starting 11 years ago. On behalf of the BCCI and also as a former captain who has played 100 Tests, I wish him all the best. He has had a fantastic career. He still has time to achieve greater milestones," added the former batter.

Kohli and Ganguly have endured a rocky past few months during which they were at opposite ends over the former's captaincy tenure coming to an end.

Ganguly had asserted that Kohli gave up T20 captaincy despite requests to continue, while Kohli insisted that no such plea was made to him when he first communicated his desire to step down.

He was subsequently removed from ODI captaincy, before relinquishing Test captaincy at the end of a series loss to South Africa in January.