'Incredible innings' - Novak Djokovic congratulates Virat Kohli on stellar Test career

Novak Djokovic and Virat Kohli (Source: X)

Legendary tennis player, Novak Djokovic, became the latest member of the sports fraternity to congratulate on his Test career after the ace batter hung up his boots from the format on Monday, May 12. Djokovic took to Instagram to praise the Indian icon.

Djokovic shared Kohli's retirement post and wrote "Incredible innings @virat.kohli 🙌🏻". 

Djokovic's Instagram story (Source: X)

Interestingly, Djokovic had earlier narrated how Kohli and him have been friends since the past few years despite never meeting each other in actuality.

“Virat Kohli and I have been texting a little bit for a few years. We never got the chance to meet in person, but it was an honour and privilege to listen to him speak nicely about me. I admire his career and his achievements. I started to play cricket. I’m not very good at it. I have a task to perfect my cricket skills before I get to India so that I don’t embarrass myself when I am there,” Djokovic had said on Sony Sports in 2024.

To this, Kohli went onto describe a fascinating anecdote on their initial interaction and growing rapport while chatting with each other on Instagram. 

“I got in touch with Novak very organically. When I saw his profile on Instagram, I pressed the message button, I thought I would just message him. Then I saw his message already on my DM. I had never opened it. It was the first time I had opened my own messages. And he’s messaged me himself. So first I thought let me just check, maybe it’s a fake account. Then I checked again, it was legitimate. Then we got talking. We have been exchanging messages every now and then. I congratulated him for all his amazing achievements,” Kohli had said to the BCCI’s social media team.

Kohli additionally shared the mutual respect both of them had for each other and Djokovic's emphasis on fitness being something the Indian cricketer looked up to with high regard. For the unversed, Djokovic had uploaded an Instagram story after Kohli notched up his 50th ODI century, too.