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A middling start, an incandescent middle stage and a slow decline define Virat Kohli’s Test career. Still, his retirement from cricket’s longest format seems a touch drastic. Kohli’s goodbye note on Instagram that came close on the heels of Rohit Sharma’s exit marks a seismic change in the Indian squad.
Walking in at number four, a slot that the great Sachin Tendulkar made his own, Kohli lent the spot his unique aura and energy. There were no nerves while the Delhi lad slipped into the Mumbaikar’s shoes. At one point, Tendulkar’s twilight and Kohli’s beginning ran parallel and it was evident that a hallowed baton was being passed.
Kohli has impressive numbers in cricket’s longest format as 9230 runs and 30 hundreds signify. Yet an average of 46.85 also points towards a bit of an underachievement, considering his enormous skill. He leaves as India’s fourth-highest run-getter in Tests after Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar, and it is a rarefied club.
Among his international peers, be it Joe Root, Steve Smith or Kane Williamson, Kohli held his corner. At one point, he was on par in terms of runs, hundreds and average.
And as a box-office draw, he got the crowds. This is an intangible which cannot be entirely measured, but Kohli had an effect on fans the world over. He emptied out bars, stirred debates.
Yet, the fact that he played relentlessly across formats, besides the Indian Premier League (IPL) in summer, meant that he hardly had time off to sort out a technical glitch or a sore muscle. Inexorably from among this Fab Four, his returns began to dwindle.
Visible traits
With Kohli, his strong personality, aggressive playing style and the dominance across formats, all combined to yield a brand equity that made the world sit up and take notice. It is no surprise that a business daily has analysed his marketability and financial leverage once he announced his retirement from Tests.
His visible traits are a passionate embrace of the sport and the resultant sheer energy he bequeaths. There is never a dull moment when Kohli is on the ground. The stride towards the batting crease is quick as he twitches the bat, flexes his shoulders and takes strike. Be it defending or attacking, there was a certainty to his shot-making.
That was the case largely through his career until the final stretch, when an over-eagerness to play almost every delivery around the off-stump made him vulnerable to the quicker bowlers. If this was a frailty that crept in late, there is no mistaking the quiet strength residing within him.
In his nascent years with the Delhi team, he lost his father during a key Ranji game against Karnataka, but still turned up and dished out a crucial knock. As the India Under-19 captain, in a chat at Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy, he came across as being self-aware and confident.
But as it happens in that transition from under-19 to the senior India colours, Kohli lost his way a bit. A restlessness was evident and even as he was smooth in ODIs and Twenty20Is, it took a while for him to settle into Tests.
Man in the mirror
There was a moment at a fancy hotel in Bengaluru once where the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team was staying. An interaction with Kohli was organised, and he, a young Turk back then, spoke with disarming candour. This was all about addressing the man in the mirror. He spoke about losing his way, taking a few things for granted, not focusing enough on the game or watching what he ate; and then he turned things around. He made a choice to train hard, monitor his diet and be the best he can be on a cricket field.
Truth be told, Kohli maintained that intensity all through his Test career stretching from 2011 to the latest final pause. Form may wane, technical flaws can crop up and it is an issue often triggered by age and slowing reflexes and yet, he battled against time. The gym sessions lengthened, the time at nets was doubled and fielding drills were followed with exactitude and exuberance.
This was a star not willing to vanish, this was a warrior ever keen for battle. Even during his last Test series, the one in Australia which concluded this January, Kohli gave it his all. A hundred at Perth in the first Test seemed to be a hint of a second wind, but it eventually became a false dawn, and he slowly petered out. However, in all the grand sporting theatres in Australia, be it the Melbourne Cricket Ground or the Sydney Cricket Ground, crowds applauded him.
Many Australians felt that among all visiting players, he was the most Australian in spirit — tough as nails, abrasive at times, and always in the thick of action.
At times, lines would be crossed like he did with young Sam Konstas and it made for some ugly viewing, but that is how Kohli is. Much like Steve Waugh, who wanted the close-in fielders to sledge him, Kohli preferred some hard words just to get fired up.
It was in Australia during the 2011-12 tour that Kohli came into his own, and when he toured Down Under in the 2014-15 season, he struck four hundreds in that series. Kohli, batter supreme, had found his mark and there was no looking back till he eased past his thirties. The cover-drives and pulls were from the top-drawer. If the drought towards the end, evident in just three hundreds in his last 20 Tests, was hard to watch, his storied career earlier had a slump and an equally riveting comeback.
During the 2014 tour of England, James Anderson was having Kohli for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps there was a denial within the Indian batter as at nets, he would often fine-tune his slog-sweep against spin. Just that before spinner Moeen Ali could turn his arm over, Kohli would be back in the hut with Anderson having the last laugh.
Dominating Anderson
When Kohli got back to Old Blighty in 2018, he was in a rarefied zone. Anderson was negated, runs flowed, two hundreds were etched and an old bogey was discarded. It was this same can-do spirit that equally defined Kohli the skipper. With 40 triumphs in 68 Tests, he is statistically India’s greatest captain in the long format.
There was the queasy rumble with Anil Kumble as coach, but subsequently, Kohli forged a bond with Ravi Shastri. As personality types, they were similar and India was on the ascendant, being number one in Tests. The away series win in Australia in the 2018-19 season was a crowning glory for Kohli.
And just like the assumed Aussie spirit within him, he goes away in an unsentimental way. 10000 Test runs could have been his as even at 36, Kohli’s excellent fitness would have yielded him another few seasons. But in walking away, Kohli showed that he is his own man, while fans would still see him in ODIs and in the IPL.
Kohli, the batter, sharp fielder and eternal cheerleader of crowds, will be missed in Tests. He was evangelical about cricket’s purest version. He remains one of a kind.
Published – May 18, 2025 02:10 am IST
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