Virat Kohli had a correct test career in the form of captain and batter, but there are always some stones left.
When a cricketer retires, everyone appreciates his career. But there are some who have completed a lot, and yet people say, ‘Oh, what could have happened.’ Virat Kohli falls in the second category. Earlier today, former India captain Boli Test Cricket Adio.
He will be remembered as India’s biggest Test captain forever. His passion, patience and determination were remembered. His desire is only best, but to make India the best. No one can change it. The decline in his late-career cannot give his legacy. No one can exempt their entire peak. His 68 wins as India’s captain will be remembered for decades. Hundreds of people in England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand can never be forgotten. It will be their legacy.
Kohli does not regret anything. He knew that he gave everything to Test cricket. But his fans are greedy. And every cricket and Kohli fan, which I am, is greedy. One knows that there were things that she could achieve. Unfortunately this cannot happen. No more.
10,000 runs
In the history of 148 years of Test cricket, only 15 batsmen have succeeded in scale to the 100,000-R Mount Mount. Only three Indians, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid have managed to do so. Kohli was once so close to becoming a 16th man. He needed only 770 runs to get that milestone. One hoped that he would reach there, but the Kovid epidemic, his late career struggle and now his test retirement did not allow him to reach there.
36 hundreds
By the end of 2019, Kohli scored 27 hundreds of runs. They needed only 10 and hundreds to reach 36 test centuries. This special number is important. This is because Gavaskar, who was the first person to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket, has 35 test centuries. Kohli had 4.5 years to achieve this. But unfortunately, he scored just 3 more runs to end 30 hundreds. He would have been among the three best Test batsmen in India, statistically, this happened.
South Africa, New Zealand and England win as captain
Most people remember the captain, batsman before Virat Kohli, Virat Kohli. And there is a reason for that. India was impossible in India under his beating. And he also became the first Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia. However, he was not able to win a series in South Africa, New Zealand and England. He came close for some time, but it was not just to happen. This is probably what prevents him from labeling the largest Test captain.
WTC unable to win mace
Kohli played a major role in the construction of the World Test Championship (WTC). Is he not shown interest in Test cricket, being the most influential cricketer in the world, who knows where the game would have been? But Kohli showed his passion for Test cricket; He wore it on his sleeve. He only received a rift in winning the WTC mace once in 2021. And India was the best team then. But New Zealand did not allow him to have his happiness.
Inability to fix the issue outside
Kohli himself has talked about being a limited batsman. Cut and sweep were not his words. But he created for these shortcomings due to being a master in other shots such as cover drives and flixes. There were always stump issues outside them. This was always a way to take him out.
But except England 2014, no one could do much about it. After 2020, this was not the case. He continuously got out of this way. It was disappointing to see this. In his previous series, all his dismissals were to close the balls out. One wonder whether he must have retired, he had corrected this issue?
Unfortunate to not play against Pakistan
Tendulkar, Dravid and Gavaskar are undoubtedly the three biggest test batsmen in India. And all of them faced the Pakistan cricket team. Fourth or fifth best; If Sehwag is high at the rate of one, Kohli did not. Due to the relationship between the two countries, Kohli never played them regularly in any format. And not once in Test cricket.
Gavaskar’s five out of 34 and 36 of Rahul’s hundreds of hundreds of Pakistan. Tendulkar did not perform well against him, but even scored 1 hundred and average over 40. It is a shame that Kohli never got a chance to face India’s staunch rival, Pakistan in Test cricket.
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