Dear Team India…….

 

11 Years of King Kohli. Have a look back on his journey.

As Virat Kohli has completed his glorious 11 years in test cricket, lets recap some of the memories that has asserted him as “one of the greatest in this format.”

A tweet by Sanjay Manjrekar in 2012 citing “Give Virat one more test…just to be sure he does not belong here” specified the status the Delhi-boy had in his initial years despite having his maiden test ton in Adelaide in 2012 where all the giants had bow down to the mighty Australian attack.

That was 2012 and now it’s 2022, after a decade. Today no one can deny to the fact that if Virat wouldn’t have been here, Indian test cricket wouldn’t have achieved the heights it saw in last 6-7 years.

Ranked no.7 on the ICC rankings, MS Dhoni ruled out from the first test; facing the most dangerous Aussie attack with some more firepower added to it as compared to the last time. Same old Adelaide Oval.

Guess what, first innings as a test captain and a superb century in it. “Pressure don’t take toll on me,” he once said in a statement and was evident from the innings that he played against the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson.

Series was 2-0 down, MS Dhoni bids farewell to test cricket and passed on the baton to a guy who was just 3 years old in the longest format. In last test of the series and first for him as a regular captain, riding on his century in 1^st innings; visitors handed a draw to the hosts and lost the 4-match series 2-0.

From that day, Australia and India have faced thrice in the Border-Gavaskar trophy and for no surprise (relating to Kohli’s approach) it’s been 3-0 in the favor of Gavaskar. From that too, two of them have been played down under and India has dominated quite well both times they have visited.

Though, the 2020-21 series has been a Ajinkya Rahane’s one, but the intensity and change Virat had bought in this team is unforgettable. It can be assumed from the fact that since Virat has taken over the reign, India have won 9 tests in 25 matches so far in these four countries (including all those matches too where Virat wasn’t captain).

Virat’s Dream and the Conquering story

“I strongly want to see the Indian team dominate for at least five or six years,” Kohli once said this on ESPNcricinfo and the promise has been made. And then, India won test three test maces under him and remained number one team for consecutively five years in ICC test rankings.

Virat Kohli is regarded as the greatest test skipper India ever had with respect to the numbers. He led the Indian side in 68 tests in which he came out as the winner in 40 occasions with a winning percentage of 59.

Under his stint, India not only won this much matches, it also involves the process through which this has been achieved. Under his captaincy only, India’s fast bowling got revolutionized and came to be known as “one of the great pace bowling assets” in the modern world.

Winning matches overseas is not a fun though, this squad brought many laurels by claiming some of the memorable wins overseas in Lords, Gabba, Centurion, Kingston etc.

Virat Kohli – the batter

Just 7 years after that tweet by Sanjay Manjrekar, he had one more tweet on the 31^st birthday of Virat Kohli stating that, “Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and now Virat Kohli, amazing all-time great batsman that the Indian waters keep producing.” The two contradictory statements prove how Virat Kohli-the batsman has progressed over the years and the impact he has created with his presence.

There should not be any doubt on the player who has slammed seven out of first 10 centuries in the most challenging tracks-in SENA. 5 of them are alone against the best bowling unit of the world, Australia. 1 each in South Africa and New Zealand.

The surface where he failed miserably was in English conditions. On the 2014 tour he managed just 134 runs in the 10 innings he played and became the victim of James Anderson five times of those. His technique was questioned, there were talks of his exclusion.

“Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do” this title suits well on Kohli. Despite facing so much of criticism, the then 26-year-old boy in the span of 6 months changed the nights and fortunes. In the following tour of Australia, he amassed 692 runs in the 8 innings which consists of 4 centuries in that tour.

After four years, he returned to England being the leader of the group and a member of Fab-4 in test cricket of modern world. He again proved his

calibre and class at the highest level. With much improved technique against the swing and James Anderson, he accumulated whopping 593 runs in 10 innings @59.30 with 2 centuries in it.

Following that series in BG Trophy down under, Virat became the first ever Asian captain to win a test series in Australian soil. He had a great run with bat too. In the Perth test, when India was trailing at 8/2; Kohli smashed a cracking century with scoring 123 runs off 257 balls comprising of 13 fours and one six on the most difficult pitch.

Virat Kohli has amassed 8043 runs in 101 matches played so far averaging nearly 50 while thumping 27 centuries and 28 half-centuries which also includes 7 double centuries.

While captaining India, Virat has scored 5864 @54.80 smashing 20 centuries and 2179 runs with 7 centuries while being a player.

The Decline in form and stepping down

The decorated career of Virat has been in some steep decline from past 3 years last scoring a ton in Nov 2019 against Bangladesh in pink-ball test. 3 test mace winning captain is finding some runs from thereon and is crossing just 50-run mark, not converting them into three figure mark which was once a USP of this champion.

In the series of failures, Virat also lost the inaugural WTC final against his arch competitor Kane Williamson’s New Zealand.

After stepping down from t20i captaincy before T20 World Cup and getting sacked by ODI captaincy, Kohli finally stepped down from test captaincy reign after a series loss against South Africa earlier this year. That marked the end of an era in Indian test cricket.

Now, Kohli has around 4-5 years of his career left and without any responsibilities on his shoulders he can make most of it and become what he dreamt off in his childhood, “being the best player of the world.”

The King is ready to stand up once again and rule the world and a big hearty congratulations to him for being the pillar of the Indian Test team for more than a decade and a good luck for the future ahead.