Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement on May 12.
Former Australia skipper Aaron Finch has applauded Virat Kohli for his selfless gesture after his sudden retirement from Test cricket. He credited the former India captain for not chasing personal milestones.
Finch mentioned the decline in Virat’s form over the past five years in red-ball cricket. But stressed that he never demanded pitches that would have helped him to score more runs in home conditions.
“What really stands out to me about Virat’s leadership is that you can look at his numbers now and say they’re not as good as they were five years ago. But he was playing on some wickets in India that were spinning hugely from day one. It was about putting your own ego aside to say, ‘What’s the best thing for my team right now to win a Test match against this opposition?'” he stated on a Jio Star show.
The former batter discussed how he could have sought out some flat pitches in home Test matches to pile up runs. However, the batter continued to play on the turning tracks, which supported India’s spinners.
“They could have rolled out some flat wickets and said, ‘I’m going to cash in on my own runs and make sure that my record stacks up with some of the all-time greats,’. But he put his own ego aside and said, ‘I want what’s best for my team to win this match,'” said Finch.
ALSO READ:
Popularly known as the ‘King’, Virat recently called time on his red-ball career despite being just 770 runs away from reaching the 10,000 Test runs milestone. Only three Indian batters, including Sachin Tendulkar(15,921), Rahul Dravid (13,265), and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122), have achieved this rare feat so far.
Virat could have decided to play a few more matches to achieve that record. But he hung up his boots when he felt it was right.
India will tour England for a five-match Test series starting June 20 in Headingley.
The sudden Test retirement of the star batter has left all his fans heartbroken. Virat unlocked some massive heights in Test cricket, both as a player and as a captain.
The Delhi batter scored 9,230 runs, including 30 centuries, in 123 Test matches. He also notched up the most Test double-hundreds for India (seven).
Moreover, as a captain, Virat is the fourth most successful leader in the history of Test cricket. He is only behind Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh, with 40 victories in 68 matches. The stalwart also maintained a 100% win record in his 11 home Test matches.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
