In a moving ode to the 36-year-old, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra described him as a once-in-a-generation player and said that no one will ever be like him again. Prior to India’s five-Test tour of England, Kohli made the decision to retire from red-ball cricket. Notably, the batsman ended a career that started in the West Indies in 2011 by telling the BCCI of his plans well in advance.
In an Instagram post on May 12, star Indian batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket, after a 14-year career. He ended up becoming India’s fourth-highest run scorer in the format with 9230 runs at an average of 46.85 in 123 Test matches.
In response, Aakash Chopra said that Kohli drew large numbers to see Test cricket, and that the younger generation might not be as interested in the sport now that he has stepped aside.
“God has destroyed that diary, thus we will never see a player like Virat Kohli. Now, you can’t have a guy like him that can dominate all formats. Chopra stated on Star Sports that more players will be leaving Test cricket to continue their careers in other formats.
Let’s acknowledge that T20 cricket is growing and that there are already more matches. It will keep expanding in the future. The younger generation is not interested in watching Test cricket. The final member of the generation to display intensity in every format was Virat Kohli. “Look, playing Test cricket is difficult because you have to be there and focus for five days,” he continued.
The Delhi native led India to the top of the ICC Test rankings and the World Test Championship final as captain, winning 40 of 68 Test matches. The former opener added that retiring from Test matches would be more painful for him than leaving T20Is.
“A warrior’s role is to battle, so you can’t ask him to teach. Given that ODI cricket won’t be played for months, Virat Kohli will have to become a teacher for the time being. His retirement from Test cricket will be more devastating than his T20I retirement. He will miss the ball hitting the middle of his bat, even though he was born to play cricket. “I understand that spending time with family is important, but Virat will miss Test cricket,” he continued.
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