 "Virat Kohli Test retirement: An extraordinary batter, an even greater captain who elevated the format")
“I’ll always look back at my Test career with a smile.”
Virat Kohli closed another chapter of what has been a legendary career so far on Monday. Less than a year after he retired from Twenty20 Internationals with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, Kohli bid Test cricket goodbye .
And while he did not celebrate a farewell on the cricket field with Rohit by his side like at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval on 29 June following India’s victory over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final, his announcement did come less than a week after India captain Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement. And interestingly, both dropped the bombshell on social media – on Instagram to be more specific.
The only difference between the two was that while the doors reportedly were slammed shut on Rohit by the BCCI as far as the Test format was concerned, Kohli’s decision to hang up his boots in the red-ball format came out of the blue and took the board by surprise. And despite the BCCI’s persuasion, Kohli appeared to have made up his mind and went ahead with the announcement anyway.
One of the finest of his generation
Kohli has achieved enough in the game to rank among the greatest white-ball batters of all time, alongside his idol Sachin Tendulkar as well as Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting among others. Kohli the Test batter isn’t far behind either, with the 36-year-old easily one of the finest of his generation and among the best to have ever worn the Indian white kit.
By the time he made his Test debut, at the Sabina Park in Kingston during India’s tour of the West Indies in 2011, Kohli already was a young star, having been part of MS Dhoni-led side that won the 2011 ICC World Cup on home soil. Kohli managed just 76 runs in the three-Test series in the Caribbean at a disappointing average of 15.20.
The disappointing debut, however, would soon be forgotten in the tour of Australia. Even as India suffered a second consecutive 0-4 whitewash away from home that put further pressure on Dhoni and his leadership in the Test format, Kohli announced himself with a steely 116 in the fourth and final Test at the Adelaide Oval, enduring a barrage of sledging from the upbeat Aussies to complete his maiden Test hundred.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsNearly two years later, Kohli took on a tough Wanderers wicket against an attack comprising Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis – bowlers who were at the heart of Graeme Smith’s red-hot run as South Africa captain. The result – scores of 119 and 96, earning him the Player of the Match award in a tense draw.
It was during the drama-filled tour of Australia in the 2014-15 season, right before the ICC Cricket World Cup, that proved to be a turning point in Kohli’s career, where he not only proved himself to be among the best all-format batters of the generation but also a legend in the making. Kohli finished the series as the second-highest run-scorer – 692 runs at an average of 86.50, collecting four centuries along the way.
More than the runs and the centuries, it was the manner and the situation in which he scored those runs that stood out, with Kohli’s inspired 141 at Adelaide helping the visitors make a game out of an improbable 364-run chase.
A majority of batters of the past would have played for a draw; Kohli brought in a change in mindset by playing for a victory! And at 242/2 with Kohli and Murali Vijay (99) at the crease, India might have had the Aussies worried momentarily in a game many believed was done and dusted.
A golden two-year run followed by a decline
Kohli enjoyed his best years as a Test batter from 2016 to 2018, scoring 3,596 runs at an average of 66.59 including 14 centuries. That’s more than a third of the runs that he’s scored in his 14-year run as a Test cricket, with nearly half of his centuries in the format coming in these two years.
That would include two knocks that rank among his finest centuries till date – 153 on a spicy Centurion pitch in January 2018 and 149 at Edgbaston against England eight months later. The second knock was a defiant response to the ghosts of the 2014 tour of England, the worst of Kohli’s career in which he could manage just 134 runs at an average of 13.40 with James Anderson and Stuart Broad repeatedly exploiting his weakness outside the off stump.
Kohli would cross 250 for the first and only time against South Africa in October 2019, remaining unbeaten on 254 as India demolished the Proteas by an innings and went on to sweep the series 3-0. That, along with his 136 against Bangladesh in a pink-ball Test a month later, was the last time Kohli looked dominant in the Test format.
Kohli, after all, has been a completely different batter since the COVID-19 pandemic that had brought cricket to a grinding halt in the year 2020, especially in Test cricket. He did have his moments, from a majestic 186 against Australia in Ahmedabad in March 2023 to an unbeaten 100 against the same opposition in Perth last November.
However, unlike in the ODI format in which he has looked more menacing than ever in the 2023 World Cup and the Champions Trophy, Kohli appeared a shadow of the batter who had bossed the format for the better part of the previous decade. The fact that he scored just 2,028 runs at an average of 30.72 precisely highlights this point.
His Test career as a batter unfortunately ended on the same underwhelming note as it began in the Caribbean in the summer of 2011. After failing to make an impact in the historic whitewash at the hands of New Zealand at home, Kohli brought a smile back on the faces of Indian cricket supporters with his unbeaten ton in Perth, only to score just 90 in the remaining eight outings across the series at an average of 11.25.
And as was the case during the 2014 tour of England, his off-side weakness was once again exploited to the fullest, this time by the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. Nevertheless, one feels Kohli easily had another two-three years of Test cricket left in him, and could have aimed at entering the 10,000-run club in the format, which would have made him only the fourth Indian to do so.
Then again, his decision to suddenly call it quits would silence his critics, the one who accuse him of playing for personal milestones and records.
Among the greatest captains and a brand ambassador for the format
Kohli’s Test numbers, regardless of his late decline, remain stellar and make him among the greatest Indian batters to have ever donned the white kit. And for a nation that has a rich legacy when it comes to the art of batting, that certainly is saying something.
Where Kohli’s statistics elevate him from among the greatest in India to among the greatest of all time (GOAT) is when one takes his captaincy numbers into account. From succeeding Dhoni midway during the 2014-15 tour of Australia to the 2021-22 tour of South Africa where he failed to breach the Indian team’s ‘Final Frontier’ in Test cricket, Kohli led the side in 68 Tests, winning 40, losing 17 and drawing 11.
When ranking captains in terms of Test wins, he’s right up there with the likes of South Africa’s Smith, Australia’s Ponting and Steve Waugh and ahead of legendary West Indian captain Clive Lloyd. His win percentage of 58.82 is the best by an Indian captain with a minimum of 10 Tests under his belt, ahead of long-time teammate Rohit (50).
His legacy as captain, however, isn’t just defined by numbers alone. The ‘Kohli Era’ of Indian cricket, which had Ravi Shastri as the head coach for the better part, was one where he led by example when it came to creating a culture of fitness within the team. Yo-yo tests suddenly became crucial for selection and everyone in the team, regardless of their primary role, had to contribute on the field and make a difference with their fielding.
It was also during this era that India witnessed its greatest pace attack ever assembled, led by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami with Ishant Sharma also playing a key role until the end of the previous decade and Mohammed Siraj rising through the ranks since the 2020-21 tour of Australia. Kohli didn’t just create a fitness culture within the team – he also brought in a mindset of collecting 20 wickets in a Test.
It was that mindset that was integral to India’s historic triumph in the 2018-19 tour of Australia, the first time they had won a Test series on Australian soil. And it was that mindset that nearly helped them win a Test series in England in 2021, until COVID ruined their party.
Let’s also not forget the role he played in maintaining the popularity of Test cricket in an age where the slam bang T20 format and the leagues that have sprung up all over the world continues to pose a threat to the elite five-day format.
“I think that if you really understand the sport, if you really love the sport, you understand Test cricket and you understand how exciting it is. I cannot explain to you the job satisfaction that you get when you do well in Test cricket, because you know how demanding it is.
“It’s the most beautiful format of the game. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. I don’t even see it getting compressed to four days. It should not be tinkered with,” Kohli had told Wisden Cricket Monthly in 2018.
Kohli will continue to ply his trade alongside Rohit in One-Day Internationals for another couple of years at least. But from an Indian fan’s perspective, Test cricket simply will not be the same without Kohli and his signature cover drives, his on-field antics and just the energy that he brings with his sheer presence.
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