Former captain and star India batter Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket ahead of the five-match tour to England. After a century against Australia in Perth last year, Kohli was trapped outside the offside multiple times and following which, there were doubts if the 36-year-old would continue in the last format. However, the fans were reassured after the cricketer featured in the Ranji Trophy game against Railways.
Nevertheless, Kohli eventually went on to announce his decision to retire from Tests on May 12. Speaking on the same, former cricketer Nasser Hussain noted that Test cricket was so much better when Kohli was involved. His animated celebrations and pep talks were highly shared on social media as the cricketer made a huge impact in popularising Test cricket in India.
“Test match cricket is so much better when Kohli was playing. We will move on - we moved on from Gavaskar to Tendulkar to Kohli and maybe now to Gill. But Kohli added so much to this game of cricket,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
Hussain picks memorable India-England moment
Hussain recently shared that the ECB had asked him to recall his favourite India-England moment, and he pointed to a fiery scene at Lord’s in 2021. He remembered Virat Kohli passionately rallying his team in a huddle, urging them to "unleash hell" over the next 60 overs to win the Test match - a challenge India rose to and triumphed in.
“It may not be my favourite, but it’s the one that stuck with me the most, was in the huddle that last morning at Lord’s when England were trying to chase down a score. They unleashed hell and their side became a sort of mirror image of Kohli, the character, the feistiness of Siraj, Bumrah in your face, Shami in your face. Kohli, Test match cricket is so much better when Kohli was playing,” Hussain said.
