On Monday, May 12, Virat Kohli startled the cricket community by declaring his retirement from Test cricket. Since then, the 36-year-old, who finished as India’s fourth-highest run-getter in the format, has received many posts offering congratulations and condolences.
The Delhi batsman is in the same class as legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid, according to Dinesh Karthik, who played alongside Kohli for many years in the Indian squad and at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Even though Kohli had a strong batting record, Karthik claimed that his aggressive captaincy set him apart by intimidating his opponents.
“There have been some game legends here. Virat Kohli is on par with Rahul Dravid, the Gavaskars, the Tendulkars, and some of those other names.
However, I believe that his leadership of Team India and the fear he was able to instill in the opposition were more admirable than his batsmanship. More importantly for the game of cricket, though, was the intensity with which he played over the course of five days, Karthik stated on Sky Sports in response to Kohli’s sudden retirement.
Virat Kohli desire to retire from the longest format had been the subject of numerous online rumours. Fans, though, were hopeful those were only rumours. After 123 Test matches, the right-handed hitter amassed 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85. During his remarkable career, he recorded 30 centuries and 31 fifties. Among them is a career-high score of 254 from a 2019 match in Pune vs South Africa.
A little more than a month before India’s much-awaited five-match Test tour of England, Virat Kohli announced his retirement. The Indian team would have benefited greatly from the iconic batter’s expertise, even though he wasn’t playing red-ball cricket very well these days. India’s batting lineup will have a difficult time in the seamer-friendly English conditions, especially since Rohit Sharma retired from the format last week.