New Delhi: With Virat Kohli’s retirement from Tests, red-ball cricket has lost one of the four foremost batters of the modern generation, including Australia’s Steve Smith, England’s Joe Root and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson – who were together dubbed the ‘Fab Four’.
The India No. 4 decided to depart from the traditional format before India’s five-match series in England that starts on June 20, which would mark the beginning of a new World Test Championship’s four-year cycle.
Kohli left Test cricket after persistent failures in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar series that India lost 1-3, leading to failure of qualify for the WTC final.
Kohli said he gave it everything he had and leaving the ‘whites’ is not easy though he felt to have made the correct decision. Having retired from the 20-ball format after helping India win the T20 World Cup in June, the right hander would now hope to win the ODI World Cup in 2027.
Fantastic Four
Though it is Tests that Kohli held the highest regard for among the three formats. Former New Zealand batter Martin Crowe had termed them the ‘Fab Four’ and predicted their dominance in the years to come.
They not only showed how visionary Crowe was but also made Test cricket an entertaining watch with their contrasting batting styles, with fitness freak Kohli being an aggressive stroke-maker, Williamson being the run anchor, Root being a classing technician and Smith being an unorthodox yet consistent batter.
Kohli now leaves the scene after 9230 runs in 123 Tests, with 30 centuries and 31 fifties at an average of 46.85. Williamson has 9276 runs in 105 matches at an average of 54.9 with 37 hundreds and 37 fifties.
Smith has amassed 10271 runs in 116 matches at an average of 56.7 with 36 tons and 41 fifties. Root has 12972 runs in 152 matches at an average of 50.9 with 36 tons and 65 half centuries.
Kohli’s slump
The former India skipper’s slump in the last five years of his Test career meant his departure would be with the lowest numbers of average, runs and centuries among the ‘Fab Four’.
But till 2019, it seemed unlikely as Kohli had an average 54.97 and was one of the few batters to average over 50 across the formats. From 2014 to 2019, Kohli scored 5695 runs at an average of 58.71 but in the last five years, that average dropped to 46.85 in victories.
He averaged 60.50 in wins for India, scoring 3872 runs in 44 Tests till 2019, hitting 13 hundreds, but since January 2020, he could manage 2005 runs in 38 games at an average of 31.32, with three centuries.
Root has been the most prolific among them during the last five years, scoring 5613 runs in 63 matches with 19 tons (three double tons), averaging 54.49, ahead of Williamson’s 2897 runs in 28 matches, at an average of 52.30 that includes 12 hundreds (four double hundreds).
Smith’s 2798 runs since Jan 2020 came from 41 matches at an average of 44.41 with eight centuries (one double century).
Technical deficiency
Kohli’s dry run of form in red-ball cricket has coincided with re-emergence of his technical woes. In 2014, Kohli had struggled to deal with the moving ball outside his off-stump, which has made a re-appearance in the last five years.
It led to his well established struggles abroad in this period, his average dropping by 30 percent to 32.28 while in 45 matches until 2019, he had made 3644 runs at an average of 46.12 with 14 centuries.
Apart from his 100 not out in the second innings of the Perth Test, Kohli could make only 67 runs at an average of 11.16 in the six other innings of the BGT series in Australia, repeatedly poking the ball to the slip cordon.
It pointed out to his decline as a Test batter but with 82 hundreds in across formats (30 in Tests, 51 in ODIs and 1 in T20Is) his legacy is well cemented in the annals of the red-ball game.
Virat Kohli decided to depart from Test cricket before India’s five-match series in England that starts in June. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
