The footwork got edgy, the head swayed far too much, the bat poked uncertainly outside the off-stump – often to the delight of the waiting slip cordon. In his last Test series in Australia last December–January, Virat Kohli looked a pale shadow of the craftsman he once was with the bat. Barring Perth, it seemed he was wrestling with the same demons of self-doubt that haunted him during his struggles with the moving ball on English pitches in 2014.
In the decade since, he had elevated his Test batsmanship to remarkable heights. At its core, Kohli’s devotion to Test cricket – the longest format of the sport – always carried the austere charm of a devotee’s asceticism. This even entailed his willingness to discipline his white-ball batting so it wouldn’t interfere with his craft as a Test batter. Even during his most prolific phase in ODIs and T20s, he often said he avoided certain shots in the shorter formats that might corrupt his technique in the purest version of the game.
Beneath all the in-your-face aggression, what endured was the “quiet grind” of the classical format – a phrase he used while announcing his retirement – evoking the spiritual core of his batsmanship.
That also leaves us with the question: was he an underachiever as a Test batsman? Statistically, an average of 46.82 from 113 Tests, with 30 centuries, might not match the expectations many had when he first lit up the format. Compared to some of his contemporaries like Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, and Joe Root – all averaging above 50 – his numbers fall just short of the elite tier. Even if Kohli’s aggregate figures are impressive on their own, they don’t quite match the soaring expectations once attached to his early form.
But then, Kohli’s legacy as a Test batter cannot be reduced to numbers. The memorable knocks that defined his journey, his approach and technical adjustments, and his leadership of the format – which he left behind in 2022 – will be remembered just as vividly.
Like all modern greats, he was eager to perform on foreign soil. Early setbacks, like the disastrous 2014 England tour that dented his rising reputation, made him more resolute. By the time India toured England again in 2018, his technical adjustments were evident, and he delivered with prolific scoring.
He was forthright in recognising the ‘chinks’ in his game – acknowledging how his default stance for the in-swinger made him vulnerable and late to respond to other challenges. He had even agreed to play county cricket for Surrey in 2018 to prepare for the England tour, though a neck injury scuttled those plans. Still, Kohli worked hard to adapt – and the effort paid off. He scored 593 runs in that five-Test series at an average of 59.3, even though India lost 3–1. After earlier success in Australia and South Africa, Kohli’s triumph in England felt like Federer’s Roland Garros moment – conquering the elusive with technical finesse.
It was, however, against Australia that his Test batting became most combative. His centuries on fast, bouncy Australian pitches in 2014 were personal milestones, but it was the 2018–19 series victory – India’s first ever on Australian soil – under his captaincy that defined his leadership. Taking charge in 2014, the first five years of his captaincy coincided with his most prolific phase as a batter, including defining knocks in England, Australia, and South Africa. His captaincy record – 40 wins in 68 Tests – is the best for any Indian skipper.
In many ways, Kohli shaped the Indian team in his own image: aggressive, ambitious, and increasingly successful abroad. However, he fell short of an ICC Test Championship title, and India’s long-standing inability to win a series in South Africa remained another unclaimed milestone during his tenure.
In recent years, talk of technical flaws in his Test batting grew louder. His struggles against the moving ball were compounded by repeated failures against spin. Among all the commentary, perhaps what held him back from the prolific output of other modern greats was a lack of sustained concentration. Kohli was too proud a Test cricketer not to recognise or grapple with these flaws.
Fitness was never an issue, nor was longevity. But Kohli knew a technically subprime version of himself didn’t belong on a Test field. Though he will continue to feature in the cash-rich shorter formats, the timeless allure of Test cricket found one of its finest modern ambassadors in him.
Many years ago, sociologist Ashis Nandy wrote that Test cricket survives as a critique of the Industrial Revolution. If so, it could certainly have done with a few more years of a fine craftsman like Virat Kohli.
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