CRICKET – INDIA stalwart Virat Kohli’s Test retirement has robbed the format of its biggest global star and its most influential advocate, leaving a vacuum that will be hard to fill.
Kohli has ended his 123-Test career having amassed 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, securing his position as a modern great of the game.
Between 2014 and 2022, Kohli captained India to 40 wins in 68 Tests to become the country’s most successful skipper in the format.
But the 36-year-old’s lasting legacy in Test cricket lies beyond his truckload of runs and checked cover-drive, which is among the game’s most beautiful shots.
Having succeeded Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India’s Test captain, “King Kohli” overhauled India’s approach to turn the team into a ruthless juggernaut that did not rely anymore on designer dustbowls to win Test matches.
Kohli demanded, and helped create, a formidable pace pool in his single-minded pursuit to turn India into a team capable of winning Tests anywhere in the world.
He revolutionised the fitness culture in the India dressing room, turning a somewhat lax fielding side into a crack squad of electric-heel fielders.
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