India captain Rohit Sharma on Monday played down Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma's claim that her husband Virat Kohli was not well while he was batting on Day 4 of the Ahmedabad Test against Australia on Sunday.
Virat Kohli produced a sublime innings on Day 4 of the fourth Test to help India take lead over the Aussies in Ahmedabad.
Kohli scored 186 off 364 balls and batted for nearly 520 minutes before getting out in the final session as India posted 571 on the board with a first-innings lead of 91 runs over Australia.
Indian cricket fans were elated to see Kohli back among the runs as he scored a Test hundred after November 2019 to silence his critics and end his century-drought after more than three years.
The cricketing fraternity, including Anushka, took to social media to wish Kohli as the former India captain roared back to form in red-ball cricket.
Anushka posted a heartfelt message for Kohli on her Instagram story, and revealed that he was batting through sickness during the marathon knock.
"Playing through sickness with this compusure. Inspiring me always," Anushka Sharma captioned her Instagram story after Kohli's 28th Test hundred.
But Rohit Sharma said in the post-match press conference that Kohli wasn't actually sick but only coughing a bit.
"I don't think Virat Kohli was sick, but yeah he was coughing a bit," Rohit told reporters.
The match eventually finished in a high-scoring draw with India clinching the four-Test series 2-1.
They retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth time in a row and qualified for the ICC World Test Championship final where they will again face Australia at The Oval from June 7.
Rohit lauds Kohli after Ahmedabad Test
The captain also credited Kohli for helping India take a commanding position in the fourth Test, even though the end result was a draw.
"Virat Kohli was the big reason behind the solid position of team in 4th Test. I don't think there was any monkey of Virat Kohli's back. He always loves to perform for the team like he's done for so many years," Rohit said.
Virat Kohli finished the series as the second-highest run-scorer after Usman Khawaja with 297 runs from four Tests including a hundred. Khawaja took the top spot with 333 runs, including a century and two fifties.
Kohli's 75th international century was also his 8th against Australia in Tests and 14th in the format on home soil.
The 34-year-old registered triple-digit scores in Test cricket after 1205 days. He also equalled cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar's tally of centuries in Tests.
