Former cricketer Shreevats Goswami has said that in an ideal situation, Virat Kohli should have left the ODI format and continued playing in Test cricket.
Goswami said this on a day when the Indian batters struggled against South Africa in the second test at Guwahati, when they were skittled out for 201 runs in the first innings while chasing 489.
The hosts suffered a defeat in the first test of the South Africa tour of India 2025, and also showed a glimpse of securing a defeat in the second test.
“Ideally, Virat should have left playing ODIs & continued playing test cricket until he had nothing to give. Test cricket misses him. Not just as a player but just the energy he brought, the love & passion playing for 🇮🇳 where he made the team believe that they can win in any condition,” said Goswami.
“The winning mentality & that fire which was there under Virat Kohli feels missing in this team,” he had added in an earlier post.
Earlier this year, Virat Kohli brought down the curtains on a profilic red-ball career, spanning 14 years and 123 tests.
Scoring 9320 runs in 210 innings, Virat Kohli stands fourth on the list of highest scorers for Indian batters only after Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).
Virat Kohli is currently active in international cricket only as a single format player as he has already announced his retirement from Test and T20I cricket.
Virat Kohli is only active in ODIs, and was last seen in action on the Australia tour, where he registered back-to-back ducks before smashing a half century in the Sydney ODI.
In the recent interaction with media, former India gloveman criticised the young batter, Dhruv Jurel who is batting at No.4 in the Guwahati Test.
“Even if the Tea break hadn’t been close, this shot was not on. He is deservedly playing as a batter because he has scored a lot of runs. However, here, he wasn’t in control at all.”
“Generally, when the ball is outside the right shoulder of a right-handed batter and you try to play it on the leg side, you are not in control. That ball mostly goes in the air, and that’s what happened here,” said cricketer turned commentator.
“Secondly, when you are playing Marco Jansen, you need to keep the extra bounce in mind because he is so tall. He has let go of a third consecutive opportunity. He is getting to bat at No. 4. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli used to bat at No. 4. Shubman Gill is batting at No. 4 now. He has also scored a lot of runs,” he concluded.
