King Kohli’s Test tale built on grit

Right after Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Tests yesterday, tributes began to pour in on social media from across the world, as everyone -- from former and current cricketers to his millions of fans -- joined hands to serenade one of the greatest batters the game has ever seen.

Among the chorus was former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar, who posted on X: "Biggest brand of the modern cricket era who gave it all for cricket's oldest format. Test cricket owes that debt to Virat Kohli."

While saying that the format itself "owes a debt" to the Indian great is a little superfluous, the sentiment behind the statement holds true, as after a career spanning 123 Tests, 9,230 runs and 30 centuries, Kohli deserves his flowers.

Interestingly, however, a Test career that ends with universal applause had begun in a very different manner, with many questioning whether Kohli even belonged in the format and, ironically, one of his biggest naysayers being Manjrekar.

"I would still drop VVS [Laxman] and get Rohit [Sharma] in for next Test. Give Virat [Kohli] one more Test, just to be sure he does not belong here," Manjrekar posted on Twitter on January 6, 2012, after India suffered an innings defeat to Australia in Sydney.

At that time, Kohli was already a star in the making in white-ball cricket but was yet to prove his mettle in the Test arena.

Having debuted in the format in 2011, Kohli by then had batted only 11 times in Tests, made 234 runs in total and averaged a mere 21.27. He had struck a couple of half-centuries but was yet to breach the three-figure mark and failed to impress in the first two Tests of that Australia tour, making 43 runs in four innings.

His success in the 50-over format at the same time, where he averaged a shade below 47, made his Test stats seem even bleaker by comparison and prompted many to write him off as a white-ball specialist.

Facing such challenges so early in one's career, most would have succumbed -- but not Kohli.

In the very next Test in Perth, which India again lost by an innings margin, Kohli was India's most successful batter with knocks of 44 and 75, and in the following Test in Adelaide, he struck his maiden Test century. He finished the series as India's highest run-getter, shutting down all his critics and announcing his arrival in the format.

But Kohli's challenges in Test cricket were far from over. Throughout his red-ball career, he faced setbacks but always found a way to fight back. In his first Test tour in England in 2014, he was completely found out in the corridor of uncertainty against James Anderson and company, making just 134 runs in 10 innings, averaging 13.4.

When Kohli returned to England with the Test team in 2018, he emerged as the highest run-getter with 593 runs -- 244 runs more than the second-highest scorer, Jos Buttler -- with two centuries and three half-centuries.

After the lukewarm tour in Australia in 2011–12, Kohli, captaining for the first time in Tests, plundered 692 runs in a four-Test series against the Aussies in his return to Down Under in 2014–15.

Under Kohli, India played bold cricket, always pushed for victories and, arguably, his captaincy set the tone for how India are playing across all formats right now.

Kohli was just 770 runs away from joining the elite 10,000-run club in Tests, and even though his form in the format has been on the decline in the last few years, the 36-year-old could have carried on for another year or two and achieved that milestone.

At the end of the day, by calling time on his red-ball career now, Kohli set an example. He left Test cricket before Test cricket left him, forcing even his most ardent of critics to acknowledge his greatness.