Former Australia captain Michael Clarke feels that if star India batter Virat Kohli retires from Test cricket it will only be India’s loss. Kohli hasn’t been in the best of form in the longest format since 2020 as his numbers have been constantly plummeting. In the recent five-match Test series against Australia, Kohli accumulated just 190 runs from five matches (nine innings) at an average of 23.75 with one hundred to his name.
After slamming an unbeaten century in the first Test in Perth, Kohli’s weakness outside off stump was exploited by the Australian bowlers as the star batter continued to be dismissed in a similar fashion. As a result, the former India captain couldn’t score a single half-century in the next seven innings. Following his poor show, there have been widespread discussions amongst fans and pundits about Kohli’s retirement from Tests. However, Clarke doesn’t want Kohli to retire and said that if he were in his team, he would fight his way to keep him.
“It’s Virat Kohli! This guy can make a double hundred tomorrow. He’s that good a player. This guy could play, he should play until he’s had enough. If he retires from Test cricket right now, there’s only one team losing out, it’s India. If I was captain of any team that Virat Kohli was in, even though I know he didn’t make as many runs as he would have liked, I’m fighting for him to stay in my team,” Clarke said on his Beyond23 Cricket podcast.
Further speaking ahead, Clarke also touched upon the comparisons of Kohli with Sachin Tendulkar and mentioned that the duo is completely different as Kohli’s greatest strength is having bat on the ball.
“Sachin was a different player to Virat Kohli. A lot of people during this Australian summer were saying Sachin did it in a Test match. He got out to cover driving a couple of times and then let it go to make a 200 at the SCG. Sachin is a different player to Virat. Virat’s greatest strength is bat on ball. He just plays it in a different way,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kohli will next be seen playing Test cricket in June during the England tour. It remains to be seen whether the star batter decides to hang up his boots due to his prolonged poor form ahead of the tour or whether he works on correcting his weakness to revive his career.
