India vs England 3rd Test: Here is why Virat Kohli would have felt nostalgic while handing Rishabh Pant his Test cap

Virat Kohli continued his tradition of not repeating the same playing XI in a Test when he made three changes for the third Test against England on Saturday.

After losing the first two Tests of the ongoing five-Test series against England, the Indian team has gone into the Trent Bridge game by being in a do or die situation.

While England made just one change by replacing Sam Curran with Ben Stokes, in Team India the likes of Murali Vijay, Kuldeep Yadav, and Dinesh Karthik made way for Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah and debutant Rishabh Pant.

Pant became India’s 291st Test player when he received his Test cap from the skipper himself on Saturday.

It has been widely known that numbers and records have never bothered Kohli but the ‘firsts’ are always special, regardless of anything.

On August 18, ten years ago, Kohli made his international debut in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla. The only difference between him and Pant was the fact that prior to Pant’s Test debut, on Saturday, the latter already had played four Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for India.

Hence, the moment which saw Kohli giving Pant his Test cap was a special one for both the players for different reasons. While Pant would have been excited for receiving his debut cap from his captain, it was special for Kohli because it happened on the day of his international debut anniversary.