Virat Kohli opted out from Test series against England earlier this year and now back after 8 months. Will he be able to dominate the red-ball again?
As Virat Kohli, India’s premier batter, makes a return to Test cricket, we will look at how he fared in the format in the recent past before dwelling upon what impact his presence will make to the team in what will be a gruelling Test season for India.
Without an iota of doubt, Virat Kohli will be listed among the best batters in the modern game and arguably the best all-format batter of all time. This holds true even though the former skipper has had a sharp dip in numbers in recent years in the red-ball format.
Virat Kohli’s Test numbers in a nutshell:
Timeline | Matches | Innings | Runs | 100s/50s | Average |
Until 2022 | 87 | 147 | 7318 | 27/23 | 53.42 |
2022 Onwards | 26 | 44 | 1530 | 2/7 | 35.58 |
Overall | 113 | 191 | 8848 | 29/30 | 49.16 |
These above stats reflect how Virat Kohli’s Test returns have dipped since the start of 2021 and, more astonishingly, how he was brilliant before his lean period started. There is a drastic difference in not just the average but also the number of centuries he has scored.
Known to be a run machine, Kohli churned out centuries consistently, but in his last 44 outings, he managed to post just nine fifty-plus scores in Test cricket. Adding to this, as many as 21 batters have scored more runs than Kohli’s 1530 in the Test format since 2021.
Read More: BGT 2024-25, AUS vs IND: Virat Kohli in Australia - Peak excellence with 1352 runs in 13 Tests
Virat Kohli gets a well-deserved rest
The former skipper of India adores Test cricket and plays it with full passion. He rarely missed out on a Test match that the team played throughout the last decade, and this is a testament to his supreme fitness and dedication to the format.
But for the first time in his illustrious career, Virat Kohli opted out of an entire Test series, and it was in the home Test series against England played in early 2024. This was done to probably manage his workload, spend quality time with his family, and be a gentle reminder that he has been playing the game at the highest level for a long time. Also, the T20 World Cup was in the pipeline, and he wanted to focus on the format.
In yet another sign of moving away from the sport slowly, Kohli announced his retirement from the international T20s following India’s triumph in the World Cup. In between all this, Kohli played a stellar role in the team’s campaign in both the World Cups (highest run scorer in the ICC World Cup 2023 and player of the final in the T20 World Cup 2024), proving he is still a match-winner.
Will this long break help Kohli?
So, in the last 8 months or so, Virat Kohli hasn’t played too much cricket, and this would keep him fresh ahead of India’s packed schedule. He is not going to play T20 cricket for the national team anymore, and that will keep him fresh for the Tests and ODI Champions Trophy coming ahead.
The Men in Blue are set to play five Tests at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand before embarking on a tour to Australia for five more Tests. With a whopping number of Tests to play in the next four months, Kohli needs to be the best version of himself.
With more time dedicated to Test cricket, Kohli has a golden opportunity to revive his old form that we were accustomed to seeing before the slump. Seeing his peers (the rest of the Fab-4) attaining a purple patch in the format, he would also ideally want to reach his Test pinnacle once again.
What to expect from him in the upcoming tourneys?
His role in the team would remain the same. Kohli will still be the No. 4 batter for team India and the key wicket for any opposition in Tests. The right-hander, by a mile, is the most experienced Test player for India and has the most centuries, runs, and the best batting average.
Additionally, Kohli is expected to guide and mentor several young players who will be travelling along with him. Cricketers like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, and Sarfaraz Khan will get to learn a lot from Kohli, especially when they are touring Australia.
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