Virat Kohli quits Test captaincy leaving behind an inimitable legacy
As Virat Kohli announced his decision to step down from Test captaincy, it marked the end of a golden era for the Indian men's cricket team.
He took a team that was languishing at No.7 on the Test rankings and moulded it in his image -- brash, unapologetic and most importantly, confident that they could beat anyone in the world, anywhere in the world.
The result? Domination of the same rankings and some of the most memorable wins in the history of the Indian Test team.
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That single-minded focus and determination to win was what Kohli instilled in the team, and it shone through in their brightest moments, even when he wasn't there to celebrate with them (ala Australia 2020-21).
At home, India were a winning machine, not losing a single series under his captaincy, but what was truly the hallmark of his stint at the top was India's performances abroad.
India reached heights under his leadership that they had only dreamed of earlier and conquered peaks that they just could not climb before.
Statistically, he is India's most successful full-time captain. Out of 68 matches that he captained, India won 40, lost 17 and drew 11. The next highest number of wins by any Indian captain was his predecessor MS Dhoni with 27, while Sourav Ganguly had 21.
His win percentage was 58.82, with MS Dhoni's 45 per cent a distant second. However good the numbers are, they still can't capture the effect he had on Indian Test cricket.
Maybe Wasim Jaffer summed it up best in his Tweet congratulating Kohli on a "successful reign" -
"When Virat took over as Test captain, India winning a test overseas was an achievement, now if India lose an overseas test series it is an upset. And that's how far he has taken Indian cricket forward, and that will be his legacy," he wrote.
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When Virat took over as Test captain, India winning a test overseas was an achievement, now if India lose an overseas test series it is an upset. And that's how far he has taken Indian cricket forward, and that will be his legacy. Congratulations on successful reign @imVkohli 👏🏻 https://t.co/My2MOXNwMc
Virat Kohli marks his intent with captaincy debut in Adelaide
Virat Kohli's first game as Test captain was the first match of the 2014-15 tour of Australia in Adelaide, with MS Dhoni out with an injury.
Kohli scored a century in the first innings (115) and then, set a target of 364, with just over a day's play to go, he led the charge as India went for the win.
He scored a brilliant 141 off 175 deliveries, but India collapsed from 242/2 to 312 all out.
If his knock was not enough, what he said after the match summed up the spirit in which India would approach Test cricket for the next seven years.
"At no point did we not think about chasing the score down. We played the kind of cricket we wanted to play. We didn't play for a draw. We played for a win. We lost. No problem. We have to maintain this kind of an approach if we have to win abroad."
Those are bits from what he had to say after that game, and it set the tone for what was to come.
He took over as full-time captain in the third Test of that series, and led the team to two draws as India conceded the series 1-0, but it signalled a shift in intent, and when India next visited Down Under, Kohli led the team to one of the more defining moments of his era.
Kohli and former head coach Ravi Shastri had one mission in mind when they began to mould the team -- building a bowling attack that would take 20 wickets anywhere in the world.
Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma were backed and they found the best form of their life. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were two of the best spin-bowling all-rounders, and in Jasprit Bumrah, Kohli and Shastri had found their X-factor.
Armed with that arsenal, and adding to it with the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel, Kohli had that bowling attack. In 2018-19, India for the first time ever, won a Test series in Australia.
Earlier in that cycle of overseas tours, India played well in South Africa, but lost the series 2-1. Kohli himself played out of his skin as they put up a fight in England, but lost 4-1.
But in Australia, they were not to falter. With Bumrah now two tours old in Test cricket and Cheteshwar Pujara in the form of his life, India won the series 2-1, and would have won a third match in Sydney, but were only denied by bad weather.
India's victory two years later in the same shores consolidated the team as one of India's best ever.
A few months later, India came back from a tour in England 2-1 up, and by the time they play the fifth match to decide the series, they will be under a different captain.
"I strongly want to see the Indian team dominate for at least five or six years," he had told The Cricket Monthly after the Australia tour in 2014-15.
As he goes back to being just a player, Virat Kohli can do so with his head held high, taking solace in the fact that he did indeed achieve what he set out to do -- world domination.