Kohli a special talent: Dravid

Virat Kohli was only taking his first strides in Test cricket when India played here last in 2011, but Rahul Dravid, then a towering figure in the squad, knew he was a "special talent" set for a long and successful career. In a video shared by the BCCI ahead of the opening Test of the two-match series, both Dravid, now the team's head coach, and senior batter Kohli reminisced about the game that took place more than two decades ago.

"When I came here in 2011, that was a very special occasion for this Island and for the ground here. To come back in a different capacity, to come here as a coach and bring a team here, Virat was the only one who was there when we came here in 2011," Dravid said.

"I remember it was Virat's first Test series with the Indian team, he was this young kid who had done really well in One Day cricket and he was just finding his feet a little bit in Test cricket.

"But you could see there was a special talent out there and you could see that he was going to be around for a while. How long you can never say so you can be very proud of his journey," Dravid added.

Kohli recently took to Twitter to share a picture of himself with Dravid and expressed his gratitude for the reunion after 12 years. Dravid said, "I certainly never thought that I would coach and come here 10 years later, but it is nice to have seen his journey, see him grow from being a young player on that trip to now being a senior veteran.

"I shouldn't call him a veteran, but a senior player on the trip. It is great to see his journey and I think of myself as someone who is a young coach starting a journey as well.

So, the tables have turned a little bit (laughs)." Kohli said he is blessed to be one of the two survivors from that squad of 2011 and said he could never imagine that he would be back where it all started form him in the game's traditional format.