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India’s middle-order not quite ready for life without Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli, the former India captain, has announced his retirement from Test cricket
Mumbai: In less than a fortnight, the national selectors will pick the squad for a five-Test tour of England. The Indian team will begin life after Rohit Sharma, their recently retired Test captain. Few would have thought they would have to contemplate getting accustomed to life after Virat Kohli too in the same series. Kohli, the finest Indian batter in the post-Tendulkar decade has retired from Test cricket.
Kohli made the retirement announcement on Monday.
Beyond the fact that Kohli, 36, is two years that Rohit, his fitness routines have been uncompromising. The batting star is still an asset on the field.
Few can point a finger at why Kohli quit. He played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi after the Australian tour. He also spent time working on his red-ball game with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar.
When Kohli gave up Test captaincy in 2022 – he also stopped being India captain in all formats and in IPL – it was to free him from the burden that comes with leading a high-profile, always-in-the-limelight Indian side.
“It did get very tough on me, and it did get too much in the end. That’s why I stepped down because I felt like if I’ve decided I want to be in this place, I need to be happy. I need to have a space in my life where I can just come and play my cricket without being judged, without being looked at as what are you going to do this season and what’s going to happen now,” Kohli recently told the RCB podcast.
While it was expected that he would be able to arrest the decline in his flagging career, that did not happen. When Kohli quit as captain, he was averaging 50.39 with 27 Test tons. Since then, he has been able to add only three more hundreds. His batting average since has slipped – 32.51. Elite performers are not used to staying average for too long.
The flipside of his record social media following, A+ India contract and multi-crore endorsement deals meant, “the playing without being judged” space he was seeking never came.
Still, there have been signs of revival in form in white-ball cricket. He got important runs, including a ton, in India’s winning Champions Trophy campaign. In this IPL, Kohli has had another 500-plus season. In fact, for the most part he’s been an intent machine, shedding his conservative approach of the past, scoring at a strike rate of 143.
Yes, what lies ahead is an altogether different proposition.
Kohli’s technical troubles didn’t leave him in the last series he played Down Under. After starting with a hundred at Perth, he was repeatedly beaten outside the stump. Big runs dried up.
But most experts back Kohli to regain form.
“Test cricket needs Virat!! He is going to be persuaded. He is NOT going to retire from Test cricket. @virat.kohli is going to average above 60 for the remainder of his Test career,” Brian Lara said on Instagram.
From Indian cricket’s standpoint, Kohli still stands tall at No.4. The only other middle-order batter with experience is KL Rahul (58 Tests). Rishabh Pant’s (43 Tests) game is fraught with risk. Shubman Gill, the frontrunner to replace Rohit as captain, is yet to live up to his immense promise as batter. Rajat Patidar failed the first time in Tests at home. If Karun Nair returns, would he be step up the same way?
Even short of his best, many believe Kohli is still the best bet.
