To lose one experienced batter before a tour of England might be unfortunate; to lose two seems like carelessness. And yet, it is possible that picking Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli would have been more a tribute to the past than a solution for the present. A new generation is being thrown into the fray, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
For so long has Kohli been Mr. Indian cricket that it will be difficult to countenance a future without him. He was a cultural force, a representative of an India with more money, more talent, more aggression than any other team.
A drawn match meant nothing to him, victory was all. From his first Test in charge in Adelaide, where he scored two centuries and brought India to the doorstep before they lost, he showed a willingness to reach for a win against the odds. At a time when obituaries were being written of Test cricket, he infused it with the excitement and depth unavailable in the white ball game.
Being himself
Unlike Sachin Tendulkar who was conscious of appearing to do the right thing always and wouldn’t do anything that hurt his image as a national icon, the early Kohli didn’t really care. What you got was what he was, and if you didn’t like it, then too bad.
When he carried the senior man around the stadium after the World Cup win of 2011, he said that Tendulkar had been carrying India on his shoulders for so long it was time to return the favour. Kohli might still play the 2027 World Cup, and a youngster man might carry him on his shoulders. He will be 38 then, the same age as Tendulkar was.
Watching Kohli evolve from a brash, self-centred boy to the mature eminence grise he became has given as much joy as his cover drive or that unique slapping on-drive he played. He understands cricket, and not just its technicalities, but its ethos and civilisational aspects too.
He played with an intensity that others aspired to but rarely matched, keeping reactions to disappointments for private moments. As his wife Anushka said on Instagram, “I’ll remember the tears you never showed, the battles no one saw; I know how much all this took from you…”
Embodiment of modern India
For those who saw in the best batters the zeitgeist of a nation, Tendulkar was the poster boy of economic liberalisation. Before him Sunil Gavaskar represented the rise of the middle class. It is tempting to see Kohli as the embodiment of modern India, pugnacious, confrontational, combative but that is only partially true.
In a nation with few who can claim to be world class, he stood out both as a symbol and an aspiration. Tendulkar, close to being a genius, didn’t inspire in the same way since fans realised he couldn’t be imitated. It is the Kohlis of the world who are emulated.
With some 270 million followers on Instagram and 70 million on ‘X’, Kohli is the post-modern cricketer, his statistics probably better known in India than the Constitution.
On the 2014 tour of England, he failed repeatedly, making 134 in ten innings; on the next tour, he made more than that in his first innings of the series and finished with two centuries and 593 runs. It was done with such inevitability that many assumed he would work it out through the dip of the last three years as he averaged 32 in 22 Tests. But his body and mind, both fitter than others’ was also ageing faster through three different formats. Kohli’s generation might be the last of the 100-Test men who play all formats.
Greatest all-format player
Kohli is easily the greatest all-format player India has produced, perhaps the best the game has seen. Tendulkar played just one T20 international, Gavaskar none at all. For long Kohli averaged over 50 in each format. He still averages 58 in ODI and 49 in T20, but his Test average will remain at 46.85, his aggregate 770 short of ten thousand.
It is unlikely that will worry him at all. Nor will it worry him that he wasn’t given a Tendulkar-like send-off, with a special series and a final Test at home. He took the call as a professional, not as a superstar. Cricket will be the poorer, even if we have been enriched by his game and the energy he brought to it.
Published – May 14, 2025 12:30 am IST