"Dear Sanga, it's been an absolute pleasure knowing you as a person first and no words can explain you great cricketing achievements," Kohli wrote in his message to the Lankan legend, an image of which was posted on Twitter by the BCCI.
"You have inspired so many people and shown them the way. Luck to have played in the same era as you. Thanks for everything. God bless you and your family and wish you the best in life ahead," he added.
The stylish left-hander has ended with 12,400 runs in 134 Tests at an average of 57.40 and 14234 runs from 404 ODIs at 41.98.