On Monday, Kohli announced that he\u2019s ended his 14-year Test career with immediate effect, bringing down curtains in an illustrious career, where he amassed 9230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85 \u2013 making him the fourth-highest run-getter in Tests for India after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI just came to know the news about 5 minutes back and still trying to get over it. Nobody thought he would announce it, as I was expecting him to go to England. I mean, this has come just all of a sudden, like Rohit also retires, and now Virat also retires. Two senior members gone \u2013 one an opener and other in the middle order. So, it's kind of a shock to me also. I was expecting them to go to England and then take their call later.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cBut them being these two individuals and of course Virat knowing himself best, it's his call. So, you cannot question that. But I was hoping that I could get to see 10,000 Test runs from Virat. Because I had predicted a long time back that he's one person who can go up to 10,000 runs. Now he finishes a little short of that. But it's his decision and I think everyone should just honour it,\u201d said Ankola in an exclusive conversation with IANS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli, who made his Test debut against the West Indies in June 2011, also led India in 68 matches in the game\u2019s longest format. Under Kohli\u2019s captaincy, India won a Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia for the first time in 2018-19.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Incidentally, Kohli\u2019s last Test match came in Australia, at the Sydney Cricket Ground earlier this year, which India lost by six wickets and lost the series 3-1. It was a series where he scored 190 runs in nine innings \u2013 100 of which came in an unbeaten knock at Perth. In his opinion, Ankola stated Kohli will be amongst the top most Test batters produced by India.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou can count him in the top 10 Test batters produced by Indian cricket. Virat Kohli could also go into the top five of that list, if I can say that because once in a while, you get a person who is capable of scoring so heavily, and his numbers have proven that.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cOutside of Tests, he's been one of the mainstay batters in four ICC World Cup Championships also. He was also captain of India in all formats. So, he's one of the topmost batters we've ever had.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Apart from being a vocal champion of playing Test cricket and promoting its importance amongst young viewers of the game, Kohli also brought about a change in India\u2019s fitness culture, which in turn changed their approach towards playing the longer format.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe kind of fitness Virat even has today, I mean, he could have easily carried on for the next 2-3 or maybe four years. Everybody has lean patches, but he's overcome those lean patches. Every other person, or a top cricketer has a period of lean patches, and I think Virat had overcome that in the past.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cFitness-wise, he is, if at par, I could say even more fit than a 20-year-old at this moment of time also. So, I think, maybe I thought it was a little too early for him to retire. Maybe another 2 years of playing could have easily been under his belt, considering the fitness he has been carrying, and we're definitely going to miss him because 2 senior players retiring from the batting order is a kind of a worry for me,\u201d added Ankola.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli\u2019s decision to retire from Tests comes days after Rohit Sharma announced his Test retirement. The veteran duo retiring in a week means India would travel to England for a five-match Test series starting on June 20 at Headingley with a big void in the batting order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cNow, you have a lot of youngsters knocking on the door. But now, suddenly, two stalwarts have retired in a span of a week. So, we have to find somebody who can fill their shoes and it\u2019s not easy to find that. It's going to take a little while, because whether they perform, or whether they don't perform, we'll have to wait and watch and see.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli\u2019s decision to retire from Tests comes days after Rohit Sharma announced his Test retirement. The veteran duo retiring in a week means India would travel to England for a five-match Test series starting on June 20 at Headingley with a big void in the batting order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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