New Delhi: Given his abundance of energy and intense style of play, Virat Kohli was good enough to play Test cricket for another two years but they might also factors been behind his retirement from red-ball cricket, reckons his long-time former team-mate Ravinchandran Ashwin.
Kohli departed the traditional format after 9,230 runs in 123 Tests at an average of 46.85, including 30 hundreds after making his debut in 2011. Under his captaincy, India rose to the No. 1 Test ranking and completed a historic series win in Australia in 2018-19.
Ashwin retired from international cricket in India’s Border-Gavaskar series in Australia last year and close on his heels Kohli and Rohit SHarma has retired after reports of them being made surplus to requirements.
“What made him stand out was his crazy energy levels-whether it be batting, captaincy, or just being a competitor. Sometimes I just wanted to ask Virat, ‘What did you even have for breakfast today?’” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“But I can’t help but feel Virat had one or two more years [of Test cricket] left in him.”
Having seen him operate from up close for around a decade, Ashwin wondered what could have triggered Kohli’s decision to say goodbye to Tests.
“That particular question has been running in my head for a while now. Could his energy levels have led to this retirement? Maybe he felt that he no longer has the mental capacity to go at full throttle every single minute,” the off-spinner said.
“The search for excellence can sometimes result in your undoing in sport. Sometimes the benchmark you set for yourself can come back to haunt you. From the team’s perspective, even his ‘reduced’ benchmark proved to be effective.”
With Kohli and Rohit following him into Test retirements, the five-match series in England would be the beginning of a new era under head coach Gautam Gambhir for India.
“I would definitely say it is the beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era. The team that Gambhir will take to England for five Tests will be a completely new team, a completely transformed team where Jasprit Bumrah would possibly be the senior-most player,” he said.
Virat Kohli made 9,230 runs in 123 Tests at an average of 46.85, including 30 hundreds after making his debut in 2011. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
