When you play a hundred test matches it’s already a special event. I mean when you start off wanting to play international cricket you want to play one then you want to play 10 or 15 then 50 appears and then the thought looms can i maybe make it a hundred because when you get to 100 test matches you’re already part of a very special club. There’s only 70 players who’ve done it only 11 indians have done it and suddenly you look up to Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid and you think wow i’m part of that group now so what Virat Kohli is doing now is something fantastic as we appreciate and and look at Virat Kohli’s test career there’s something else i want to do to put things in perspective. I want to look at his numbers across formats and what they tell you is a staggering story of a sensational multi-format player. Why am i talking a multi-format i will tell you in a moment let’s look at the numbers first.
From the time Virat Kohli made his debut only Joe Root has scored more runs than he has but look at all his contemporaries. Root himself Kane Williamson, Steven Smith David Warner not looking at AB de Villiers because he was little before not looking at Babar Azam because he’s not quite achieved that body of work yet but look at all these people the one thing Virat Kohli has that nobody else has is he’s averaging 50 plus across all three formats now why is that important for his appreciation as a
test match player because you’re constantly these days jumping from one format to the other to the other you played a lot of IPL you look at even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid the IPL arrived late in their career T20 Internationals arrived late in their career so they were essentially dual format players Kohli’s had to be not just a triple format player but also with that ipl coming in so you’re constantly going away from the ipl to play test matches and then to go out and achieve what he has is staggering so i think as a multi-format player.
Since the time he made his debut he’s pureless but purely as a test match player when you’re averaging 50 plus in an era where bowlers are starting to dominate more and more is is just fantastic. There’s one other thing about Virat Kohli that tells you what kind of person he is the kind of commitment he brings every time he has gone through a nervous phase or he struggled a little bit he’s come back stronger.
Look at just three examples look at the first one in 2011 he made his debut in the West Indies he struggled wasn’t picked for the tour of england can you imagine wasn’t in the squad for the tour of England but had baggage in the West Indies he went back he got a double hundred at North South then he went to Australia still not quite sure of his place should he be playing the Perth’s test should he not got picked for that Perth test he got a 70 under 40 went to Adelaide he got a hundred but this was still Virat Kohli work in progress one great evening then he goes back and he makes upwards of 600 runs in Australia 2014 was a sight to behold just before coming to Australia he’d been in England just 130 runs in that series so much talk about Virat Kohli wow this tomorrow’s player coming just 130 runs goes back in 2018 and he makes 590 runs it just tells you that here’s a player who’s constantly learning who’s constantly trying to get better and that is what separates some players from everybody else i know it’s going through a little streak now but i’m very bullish that he will overcome these and maybe he will go back he can go back once or twice.
It will be brilliant to that phase in 2016, 2017, 2018 it started 1415 but 2016, 2017, 2018 he made a thousand runs in the calendar
year each time and he played some staggering unforgettable leading so who knows maybe we’re not going to get there what about kohli the batsman did he sometimes get to onside were there any shots that you remember of course that flicked through the onside the swivel pull through the onside great shots yes Kohli did become an onside player here at stages in his career but what is the shot of Virat Kohli’s that you remember the cover drive so not going through the onside Virat Kohli through the offside we’re not going at his prime straight down the ground there isn’t any area you say could Virat Kohli not play could he be troubled in certain circumstances
“never” in india he averaged 62 there’s one bone you want to pick with Virat at all it is that is away average was 42 and i think that’s because of those streaks that
came in but cena which is more difficult to play in the normal away average he still averaged 44.
i’d like that average to go up before he’s done with his career his place among the greats does he make an all-time India test match 11 there’s Gawaskar there’s Dravid there’s Tendulkar does he compete with the Vishwanath, Azharuddin and Vijay Hazare i think he’s done enough actually to make an all-time india test match side i still think as a limited overs player is fearless but as a test match player definitely but Virat Kohli’s journey is as much about Kohli the batsman as it is about Kohli that captain i think there was a phase when Virat Kohli’s identity as a batsman and Virat Kohli’s identity as a captain almost merged the numbers are telling you a story 140 out of 68 games in charge i think even more important was the fact that india spent 42 months at the top of the charts in the ICC Test Match Rankings.
Test match cricket meant a lot to Virat Kohli and i think if there’s a lot of young people today who are saying yeah i think this test cricket is it’s quite cool where Virat Kohli’s got a big part to play because he’s always promoted the idea of test match cricket but what was what is Virat Kohli’s captaincy legacy as he completes 100 test matches as a player Virat Kohli was happy to be in your face Virat Kohli was aggressive but Virat Kohli loved base there was a time when with India traveling you could produce a green top and expect to win with Virat Kohli side you might still win but you could not expect to win because india had a fast bowling arsenal of their own and look what happened under Virat Kohli Jasprit Bumrah emerged and became this fantastic player Ishant Sharma numbers under kohli are unrecognizable from his numbers earlier Mohammed Shami became a better bowler whenever he got the opportunity Umesh Yadav was excellent Moammed Siraj has just arrived these aggressive fast bowlers loved playing under a captain who said right this is how we are going to play oh and as i said earlier he was in your face and to me nothing symbolizes Virat Kohli the captain more than that second test match at Lord’s in 2021 india merged into Virat Kohli as a character the way Virat Kohli played this cricket was the way india played their cricket and for those 60 hours.
it was almost like England were under siege in their own country the fast bowlers came hard in india were hunting like a pack of wolves i know there’s a recency factor but it’s been a very long time since i’ve seen india play consistently aggressively and be in your face against the home side and produce a win i think when Virat Kohli finishes he’ll think back very strong very very fondly about that particular test match because that was india becoming Virat Kohli now looking ahead what do i want from Virat Kohli what a player he’s been what can someone like me ask of Virat Kohli i’d like him to be calm and dangerous it’s an interesting combination i’d like him not to worry about the world it’s very difficult because he’s a star his big instagram personality is married a star everything they do is in the public eye they will not everyone will always be kind to him but i just hope he’s able to push that aside and go back to what made Virat Kohli the great player i’m not saying he’s drifted away but i don’t know him well enough to say that but i hope he just comes back calm dangerous focus and realizes that for all the couple of people who might say things the vast majority of people are for Virat Kohli so Virat enjoy yourself thank you very much and hope you have a great career ahead of you irrespective of what you’ve already achieved a great ahead of you because when you play well for a lot of people.