Sawt Falasteen - Virat Kohli: Indian batting great and hero to hundreds of millions

An inspiring leader and former captain, he retired from Test cricket on Monday with 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, scoring 30 centuries and 31 fifties.

The Indian great played 123 matches since his Test debut in 2011. His highest score was 254 not out.

The 36-year-old Kohli was part of the "Fab Four" quartet of batsmen who dominated Test cricket over the past decade, alongside Steve Smith of Australia, Kane Williamson of New Zealand and Joe Root of England.

Nicknamed "King Kohli", he was India's batting backbone across three international formats and ended his Twenty20 career with a match-winning innings in the World Cup final victory in Barbados last year.

Kohli then walked away from the shortest format along with captain Rohit Sharma who, like Kohli, is expected to continue playing 50-over cricket after retiring from Tests.

Kohli's declining form in the five-day game may have been a factor in his decision to call it a day. After averaging close to 55 at his peak between 2011 and 2019, the figure dropped to 32.56 over the past 24 months.

"Virat never played for records. They happened as he progressed," Kohli's biographer Vijay Lokapally told AFP.

"His batting skills and work ethic combined to create magic.

"Longevity leads to milestones and that is what Virat has inherited from stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar."

- Fierce competitor -

Kohli's huge popularity among Indian and global cricket fans is reminiscent of that once enjoyed by his idol Tendulkar.

The number India 18 jersey worn by Kohli is by far the most popular piece of merchandise worn around grounds across the country.

He picked the number after making his ODI debut on August 18, 2008, and also to honour his father, Prem, who passed away on December 18, 2006.

With more than 26,000 international runs and a total of 80 centuries across the three formats, comparisons with Tendulkar are obvious but Lokapally disagrees.

"He dislikes this comparison. He has his identity, Sachin Tendulkar has his. Their styles differ," said Lokapally.

"Sachin has faced some ferocious bowlers. Virat has dominated too."

A fierce competitor, Kohli has never shied away from a battle on the field which further endeared him to Indian fans, who regularly invade the pitch to touch the feet of their icon and take selfies with him.

Underlining his immense popularity, Kohli has 271 million followers on Instagram.

Kohli became India's most successful Test captain with 40 wins and 17 defeats in 68 matches. The next best are Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 27 wins from 60 and Sourav Ganguly with 21 from 49.

He is also fabulously wealthy, leading India's list of highest-paid athletes with earnings of $33.9 million, mainly from brand endorsements, according to analysts Sportico's 2022 list.

From 2021 Kohli's form started to desert him and he went more than two years without scoring a hundred. He resigned the T20 captaincy in late 2021 and was soon after sacked as 50-over captain.

In 2022, Kohli gave up the Test reins and later talked about his mental struggles as the runs dried up, including how he had been "snappy" around his actress wife Anushka Sharma.

Freed from the burden of captaincy, Kohli struck his first hundred for 1,020 days at the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Having won the one-day World Cup in 2011, Kohli has one ambition still to be achieved.

He is yet to lift the Indian Premier League title despite having featured for Royals Challengers Bengaluru in every campaign since the competition's inaugural season in 2008.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST