Virat Kohli Test Retirement: Gooch Ranks ‘Consummate Performer’ Among Cricket라이브 바카라 Top Four Batters

Former England batter Graham Gooch hailed Virat Kohli as a "consummate performer" after the former India captain announced his retirement from Test cricket.

Reports emerged last week that Kohli, who stepped down as India's Test captain in 2022, had informed the BCCI of his decision to retire, and he confirmed his decision on Monday.

His announcement comes less than a week after India captain Rohit Sharma also stepped away from Test cricket.

Kohli made his Test debut in 2011 and has played in 123 matches, with 68 of those seeing him lead the team. He won 40 matches while captain, making him the nation's most successful skipper in the format.

His 59% of matches won as captain has been bettered by only Australia under Steve Waugh (72% - 41 of 57 won) and Australia under Ricky Ponting in the format (62% - 48 of 77 won) in the format (min. 40 games as captain).

Kohli has averaged 46.85, having plundered 9,230 Test runs, which ranks fourth among Indian batters, behind Sunil Gavaskar (10,122), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sachin Tendulkar (15,921).

The 36-year-old also hit 30 Test tons, ranking fourth for his country, behind Gavaskar (34), Dravid (36) and Tendulkar (51).

And Gooch, who played 118 Tests for England between 1975 and 1995, believes Kohli is up there with the best in the world as he bows out.

"I think he's picked up the baton from people like Tendulkar, Dravid and [VVS] Laxman and these guys like [Virender] Sehwag," Gooch told Stats Perform.

"And he's gone on with that tradition of being a heavy volume run scorer in every form of the game.

"He has, with his skill, with [Joe] Root and [Steve] Smith and Kane Williamson, maybe they are the top four players in world cricket. And Kohli is a consummate performer all round."

Kohli is the only Indian batter to score five or more Test centuries in consecutive calendar years (2017 and 2018) and the fifth batter to do so overall (also Matthew Hayden, Ponting, Steve Smith and Joe Root).

His tally of seven double-hundreds ranks joint-fourth on the all-time list, behind Donald Bradman (12), Kumar Sangakkara (11) and Brian Lara (nine), while he is level with Wally Hammond and Mahela Jayawardene.

His final appearance came in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where India were beaten 3-1 by Australia in the 2024-25 series.

One of his best performances came in the same tournament back in 2014-15, with Kohli striking four tons, the joint-most by an Indian batter in a single bilateral series in men's Tests (also Sunil Gavaskar vs West Indies in 1970-71 and 1978-79). 

Gooch believes Kohli's consistency in the longest format is down to how he has adapted to his environment over his 14-year Test career.

"I think with the scrutiny that players have in India, it's amazing," Gooch added. "Their lives are not really their own in some ways because you can't go anywhere, you can't move around freely without thousands of people.

"I think what is slightly different is that he's embraced, over the last decade or so, the fitness and the way the modern player has progressed in cricket compared with maybe my era.

"In my era, your Tendulkars and your Gavaskars, all these guys, they're brilliant technicians as batsmen. Maybe the whole fitness and the way you think about yourself, all these sorts of things, were not at the forefront.

"Well, he's certainly brought India into the 21st century when it comes to that, if you see what I mean. I heard the other day that a lot of these guys carry their own chefs, three or four guys in the Indian team that have their own chefs that travel with them everywhere.

"So, if I was playing nowadays, I would have my own coach and my own fitness trainer with the money that's available, I wouldn't leave anything to chance. So, he's brought them into that era."