Virat Kohli retires from Test cricket

[goose]

 

we speak of post 2020 kohli averaging in the 30s, many saying he should have retired years ago. yet we are going to hand the captaincy to someone also averaging the 30s after 30 odd tests. why do want one to walk away while for the other we are full of hope!

[nevada]

37 minutes ago, goose said:

 

we speak of post 2020 kohli averaging in the 30s, many saying he should have retired years ago. yet we are going to hand the captaincy to someone also averaging the 30s after 30 odd tests. why do want one to walk away while for the other we are full of hope!

Both are equally bad! I doubt anyone on ICF is in favour of appointing Gill as test captain. In fact, people here have been warning against such a decision, knowing well the selectors' misplaced priorities. 

[rollingstoned]

As far as aura at crease goes one can't look past Kohli at his peak imo. It's subjective but even Sachin didn't make me feel as assured as he did from. Etween 2014-2019 especially in odis. 

Shame it had to end this way. I feel a little sad even if I wanted hi lm out for some time now. The way he revolutionized our fast bowling unit and approach to tests esp home dominance is a legacy no one can take away from him. 

[velu]

@bowl_out @vvvslaxman

 

 

 

[Adamant]

3 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

Average 46.85.  
 
 

Somebody puts him in the same sentence as Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Gavaskar or any Test greats, I will send a supari to L Bishnoi.  He is worse than Pujara in Test cricket among Indian bats

 

 

He is not in the same tier as the top three but Sehwag? He has no performance of note in three out of the four SENA nations and never became number one in test ranking, also has lesser runs and centuries

 

How is he worse than Pujara who averages 41? 
 

This is a stupid post.

[Serpico]

1 hour ago, goose said:

 

we speak of post 2020 kohli averaging in the 30s, many saying he should have retired years ago. yet we are going to hand the captaincy to someone also averaging the 30s after 30 odd tests. why do want one to walk away while for the other we are full of hope!

He has age on his side, so people have hope. Even kohli was averaging in 30s when he became captain and then hit a peak afterwards 

Edited May 13, 2025 by Serpico

[vvvslaxman]

10 hours ago, JazzyB said:

Credit to Virat for retiring gracefully with no fan fair or asking for send off or dragging to reach milestones like 10k runs. unlike some others who were selfish and wanted proper send off and dragging career at the detriment of team to achieve personal milestones like 200 tests or 100 hundreds.

Australian media gave him proper send off. 

[Lord]

18 hours ago, Gollum said:

Latest reports say Shami is going to retire before the England series. He is struggling to complete his run-up in nets. 

 

Father time. 

 

Only Jaddu is left standing. 

 

Jaddu should focus on Tests only. Should be a regular now.

[Lord]

10 hours ago, JazzyB said:

Credit to Virat for retiring gracefully with no fan fair or asking for send off or dragging to reach milestones like 10k runs. unlike some others who were selfish and wanted proper send off and dragging career at the detriment of team to achieve personal milestones like 200 tests or 100 hundreds.

Reaching 10k would have taken another 2 years for him

 

 

[coffee_rules]

4 hours ago, Adamant said:

He is not in the same tier as the top three but Sehwag? He has no performance of note in three out of the four SENA nations and never became number one in test ranking, also has lesser runs and centuries

 

How is he worse than Pujara who averages 41? 
 

This is a stupid post.

Sorry, I went a bit overboard. I accepted in another he was at the top for 4 years 2014-18 and had some glimpses of it now and then. But 7 years is a long time for somebody to be averaging in 30s/40s in the end of his career. Every ATG rectifies his issues in a year being in the dumps, this guy never recovered. That is a bit disappointing. In terms of iimpactful innings, like Pujara saving our ass in 2020 for a series victory in Aus, same in 2021, by not being his fan, I don't remember many of his quality runs. Anyway, I am more sad that he showed so much talent and we can remember him only by his antics:

 

 

 

And his infamous cover drive:

 

But in the end of his career, he was caught fishing most of the times in SENA:

 

 

[bowl_out]

The only disappointing thing is that he spent his last series fighting with a kid like Sam Konstas

Edited May 13, 2025 by bowl_out

[Gollum]

2 hours ago, Lord said:

 

Jaddu should focus on Tests only. Should be a regular now.

When the dust settles, even his haters will realize that Jaddu is the most valuable test player of his generation. Unfortunate that we never hyped him up like Poms do with Stokes. Hate him as a white ball player but in tests, no questioning his greatness. 

[Lone Wolf]

Biggest regret for Kohli as a test player should be bottling WTC final in 2021.  India had no buisness losing it... It has draw written all over it.  No wonder Shastri said it was his biggest regret as a Coach.

 

He could have been a WTC winning captain.  A true highlight of his career along with BGT 2018-19.

 

As a captain he should be given credit for pushing for fast bowling revolution.

As a better I'd say he overachieved with his limited talent.  He was bound to get worse with age.

Edited May 13, 2025 by Lone Wolf

[Gollum]

6 hours ago, rollingstoned said:

As far as aura at crease goes one can't look past Kohli at his peak imo. It's subjective but even Sachin didn't make me feel as assured as he did from. Etween 2014-2019 especially in odis. 

Shame it had to end this way. I feel a little sad even if I wanted hi lm out for some time now. The way he revolutionized our fast bowling unit and approach to tests esp home dominance is a legacy no one can take away from him. 

This. Insane peak in the 2016-19 period in tests. When he was on, very few ATGs can be compared to him. Peak ICC rating of 937 is proof of how good he was at his best. 

 

In the modern era only Steve Smith (947, 2nd best behind Bradman at 961 ), Ponting (942) and Sanga (938) had higher peak ratings than him. Apart from that Richards, rest all from before 70s. Crazy to see so many undermine him on SM. 

 

At least I'll put him on Amla, ABDV level, who were also much better than what their final numbers suggested. Btw even Pujara is much better than his final numbers. These guys would have benefitted had they been dropped once or twice in their early 30s and forced to grind in domestic. Guys like Sachin and Smith put in the hard yards in FC when they were struggling, and were able to mount comebacks because of their work ethic. 

Edited May 13, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

10 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Biggest regret for Kohli as a test player should be bottling WTC final in 2021.  India had no buisness losing it... It has draw written all over it.  No wonder Shastri said it was his biggest regret as a Coach.

 

He could have been a WTC winning captain.  A true highlight of his career along with BGT 2018-19.

 

As a captain he should be given credit for pushing for fast bowling revolution.

As a better I'd say he overachieved with his limited talent.  He was bound to get worse with age.

His ego was also his downfall. Never made technical changes once he lost his supreme hand-eye, that front foot plonking and over reliance on cover drive worked well for him in his younger years but also the cause of his decline. I also think he lost interest. He reworked his batting in 2018 England to bury the 2014 ghosts. But post 2021, felt like he was just going through the motions. 

 

Test cricket is brutal, unforgiving. Nowhere to hide when you hit a bad patch, ODI is much more forgiving. 

[velu]

6 hours ago, Adamant said:

He is not in the same tier as the top three but Sehwag? He has no performance of note in three out of the four SENA nations and never became number one in test ranking, also has lesser runs and centuries

 

How is he worse than Pujara who averages 41? 
 

This is a stupid post.

 

his last few series SENA stats are tailenderesque , otherwise it’s not bad 

 

for me nobody entertained me more than Sehwag in tests ..  triple century in Pakistan vs Akhtar & co thought he will get out at anytime after 50 , but he kept on hitting boundaries , another one in chennai vs eng chasing 300+
 

his 195 vs aus is till class as well

[Gollum]

6 hours ago, Adamant said:

He is not in the same tier as the top three but Sehwag? He has no performance of note in three out of the four SENA nations and never became number one in test ranking, also has lesser runs and centuries

 

How is he worse than Pujara who averages 41? 
 

This is a stupid post.

Actually Sehwag did become number one ranked player in 2009 or 10....he had a crazy second peak in those years (after his poor run in mid 2000s) and was even ICC test player of the year once. Anyway his USP was his impact, how he revolutionized test cricket, him being the biggest matchwinner among our batsmen, so what if most of his successes came at home or in SC? 

 

In many ways he was the batting equivalent of Ashwin/Jadeja/Broad/Anderson/Rabada/Philander. Not well rounded CV but out and out matchwinner and bully in certain conditions.

Edited May 13, 2025 by Gollum

[tapandrun]

When kolhi started playing test and with his intial failures he as looked up-on as some1 who is v.good for white-ball but not suited for test cricket.

He worked fixed the issue had good run and then in last 4-5 he faded. 

 

He has Test avg. of 46-47 which is low when you say he is elite Ind batter, but have to keep in mind he played in the era where scoring in test in Ind conditions have been toughest.

 

A good aggressive captain, but sometimes went overboard and looked like he is just acting. He created a top-draw fast bowling line-up which before him would have been seen as joke if some1 was told that Ind has best bowling line-up in the world and they have 2 high class bowlers on the bench too.

Plus he brought the culture of fitness in the team which seems like tapering away with new TM and captain.

 

But he lacked the awareness to create a proper batting line-up both in test and white-ball, which can be attributed to him carrying low-performing batting throughout.

Raina never graduated from his 30s-40s to be a no.4 batter after so many years he was not able to develop the game and then dhoni took at-least 3-4 more years to retire.

 

Over all decent test batter and decent captain

 

 

 

[Gollum]

31 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

He has Test avg. of 46-47 which is low when you say he is elite Ind batter, but have to keep in mind he played in the era where scoring in test in Ind conditions have been toughest.

Yup, easily 4-5 pts difference in average. On 2000s kind of pitches (flatter worldwide, not just in India) he would average 50-51 at least. 

[tapandrun]

13 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Yup, easily 4-5 pts difference in average. On 2000s kind of pitches (flatter worldwide, not just in India) he would average 50-51 at least. 

when compared to his contemporary elite batters root, williamson, smith all 3 are 50+ averaging test batters.