'What Virat Kohli fostered as captain, MS Dhoni couldn't': 2014 'worry' laid bare in 'I'm shocked, gutted' admission
Virat Kohli captained India in Tests between 2014 and 2022, leading the team to 40 wins in 68 matches.
It has been 48 hours since Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement, ending days of sudden speculation over his future in the format, and former England captain Michael Vaughan admitted he is still "gutted, shocked and sad" at the announcement. While he mostly praised the 36-year-old in his column for the Telegraph, Vaughan did not hesitate to compare the Test captaincy of Kohli and his predecessor, MS Dhoni.
One of Kohli's greatest achievements in the traditional format will remain his nine-year spell as captain, during which India not only became the No. 1 team in the world but also remained unbeaten on home turf and became the first Indian side to win a series in Australia. He led India to 40 wins in 68 matches—the most by any Indian skipper to date and fourth-best overall.
Vaughan, however, admitted that when Kohli took over the reins from Dhoni in December 2014, midway through the tour of Australia, he was "worried." However, he added that Kohli brought the love back to Test cricket, and the five-day game would have been a "far blander place" without him.
"When he took the captaincy just over a decade ago, I was worried India was losing interest in Test cricket," wrote the 50-year-old.
"MS Dhoni was one of the great white-ball players but it felt like he captained a Test team who did not love the format. The game needs India to be madly in love with Test cricket, and that is what Virat fostered as captain.
"His passion, skill, and the way he talked about Test cricket always being the pinnacle has been a huge shot in the arm for the format. Test cricket would have been a far blander place without him, and there is a chance it would have lost its appeal if he had not been as interested and invested in it."
The veteran batter, who served as England Test captain from 2003 to 2008, also labelled Kohli as the greatest player across all formats and called his retirement a blow to Test cricket.
"His retirement now is a blow to Test cricket and very disappointing for fans – not least in England this summer – but my belief is that he has helped forge a love for the format among the generation that will follow him, and kept the flame burning," wrote the former opening batter.
"It's impossible to compare across every era, but if you look at since T20 came in around 20 years ago, he is almost certainly the greatest player when you consider all three formats."
Kohli bid adieu to Test cricket on Monday via an Instagram post. He represented India in 123 Tests, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries.
"There are not too many Test retirements where I am left genuinely disappointed that I won't watch a cricketer play again. But I'm gutted we won't see Virat Kohli in England this summer or in whites any more," Vaughan added.
"I'm shocked that he's retiring now, and I'm also quite sad about it. In my time involved in the game, stretching back more than 30 years, I don't believe there is any individual who has done more for the Test format than Virat."
