There is no doubt that Virat Kohli is the greatest Test captain India has ever had.
A lot can be said about his batting but what stood out about him was his energy levels. His energy levels in his batting, captaincy, competitiveness… Sometimes I would be tempted to ask him ‘what did you eat today before coming to the game?!”
But the retirement does raise a question in me: Did have one or two years more of Test cricket in him?
Was his energy levels a reason? Did he think..”hey I don’t have the mental capacity to handle it.” To fight fight fight.. not many speak about it but the search for excellence is set by the personal benchmark set by ourselves. People will criticise us based on the benchmarks set by oneself.
But looking at it from team’s point of view, that reduced benchmark can also be a useful thing in the bigger picture. Sometimes as they say you can’t buy experience – that’s been there, done that.
I can tell you even when Virat kohli wasn’t playing, his energy in mid-wicket, short cover, slip would be missed. It’s not as if he would suggest something and the wicket would fall. But his presence and involvement in the game mattered.
I remember a Test in Edgbaston (2018) where he played a great knock. He was dropped at slips, then an outstanding hundred. Also an impact knock in the second innings.. we lost that game closely.. but apart from his knocks what I remember was the bowling in the first innings. Joe Root was batting superbly. Virat ran back from short midwicket frantically – there was a fielder at cow corner – and he actually fell down while retrieving and throwing the ball. The ball would fall on the stumps and Root was run out. Sorry if am mistaken about the batsman if it was Root or Bairstow (it was Root, indeed runout by Kohli on 80). He would gesture a mic-drop moment.
I don’t intend this as derogatory but the thought that ran in my head: “the ball didn’t have momentum. Perhaps a second run wasn’t there or it could have been run but in a Test match to show this kind of intensity to pull off a game-breaking moment, I wanted to ask him: who are you man..who are you? (” Yaaru da nee, yaaru da nee?!”) What do you eat?”
As a bowler who would bowl 40 overs, it’s not easy to retain that kind of energy but even as a batsman how many can do this kind of manic energy? I have said there are two people like this: and Virat Kohli. There is also who has kept a lot.
I saw. VVS Laxman’s video where he says being a soldier of the team and being a leader of the team, to bring energy like this can sometimes be taken for granted.
I have felt that when he wasn’t playing. That absence of energy in the Test team. That’s something the team will definitely miss. Only the person who is going to attempt to take that burden is going to know the weight of that burden.
There have been reports that people are trying to talk him out of retirement. Why? Because he is the poster boy of Test cricket. When we toured Australia, they marketed him to promote the series. England would do the same. With all these formats, I don’t know if anyone can match his longevity performance.
It’s an extraordinary feat and a feat that Virat Kohli should really be proud of. He just didn’t promote Test cricket but brought the intensity and changed work ethics. For that, I have to offer a big salaam to him.
Two of my personal favourite knocks was his 235 against England in , where we gave them an innings defeat. A fabulous knock.
Another one was at Centurion in South Africa in 2018. The pitch had cracks and batting wasn’t easy.. a fantastic 150-odd. We couldn’t win that but only a batsman in prime like Virat could have done.
Last two years, the pitches have been a bit harder..as a captain he has led to wins in Australia. I can’t forget his knock in the pink-ball test in Adelaide (2021), he made 70-odd before a run out after mix-up with (Ajinkya) Rahane.
All in all, Virat Kohli the Test batsman, Virat Kohli the Test captain, Virat Kohli the soldier of the Indian team will be missed. There is no doubt.
Considering the importance of the England Test series, post-Rohit retirement, I genuinely thought they would give Kohli the captaincy as stop-gap captain. As it would be difficult for to be captain as it would be really tough for him to play five Tests. They are saying might lead, but whoever does these are massive shoes to fill.
I think is also a candidate as he has been one of our best Test batsmen.
But I feel we haven’t addressed the leadership vacuum, not just now but historically. We haven’t promoted the second or third in command. Looks like it would be a young captain. My best wishes.
– from as told on his YouTube channel
