On the eve of the second Test match between India and South Africa in Johannesburg, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid has lavished praise on Virat Kohli’s captaincy and batting ability. 

In a pre-match press conference, Dravid said, “Virat Kohli has been an absolute leader in the way he has connected on and off the pitch is fantastic despite all the noise around him. I couldn’t speak highly of him. Truly a pleasure to work with someone like him.” 

The former Indian captain also backed Kohli to return to form and get back to scoring big hundreds. Dravid claimed that a big knock is around the corner. 

“I feel there is a run of big runs coming soon, observing how he is practicing, how involved he is. Credit to him and the team, despite all that’s happening around,” said Dravid while talking about Kohli’s batting form.

The South Africa series is India’s first away assignment since Dravid took charge of the Indian team in November. In his first home series, India whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 in the T20I’s while beating them 1-0 in a two-match Test series last month. 

The tour to the rainbow nation got off to a dream start for Kohli & Co with a stunning 113 run victory in the first Test match at Centurion. India now finds itself on the brink of a first-ever series victory in South Africa. 

The second Test will begin in Johannesburg on Monday (January 3). South Africa has been hit by a major blow in the build-up to the game with Quinton De Kock announcing his retirement from Test cricket. 

Despite India’s near-perfect performance in the series opener, they will hope to see Kohli get among the runs again. Despite looking in good touch, he was dismissed for scores of 35 and 18 in Centurion. 

The Indian Test skipper has not scored a century in international cricket for more than two years. His last ton came against Bangladesh in November 2019 during a pink-ball Test match at Kolkata.