It’s a very hard question to answer. Looking at the overall state of Virat Kohli in the longest format of the game, it won’t be easy to see the end of him at this stage of his career. And, given he has decided to put the curtains down from the shortest format of the game recently, it tells about his desire to be involved in the 50-over format and the red-ball games.
However, Virat Kohli has struggled in certain periods in this format over the last two years. He had a century against West Indies in the middle of 2023, just after the mammoth hundred he made against Australia at home towards the start of the year.
The 35-year-old now has collected 8871 runs in 193 games at an average of 48.71 with a strike rate of around 55, shouldering on 30 half-centuries and 29 centuries with a best score of unbeaten 254 runs.
Brad Hogg wants Virat Kohli to start performing in Test matches
The former Australian left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg believes that it will be vital for Virat Kohli to start scoring runs in the five-day format if he doesn’t want to get dropped from the Test side of the Indian team, as the selectors may think of looking ahead towards the younger players.
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Last year, the former captain of the Blue Brigade collected 671 runs in eight games at an average of 55.92 with a strike rate of over 70 with the help of a couple of centuries and as many as fifties in the format.
“Is it time for Virat Kohli to retire from Test cricket?” One of the users questioned Hogg on his YouTube Channel.
The Western Australia spinner feels that at the moment if the Rohit Sharma-led side wants to win the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25, the number four position of the Delhi-born would be really important.
“Oh, we want a little bit of controversy here. No, I think Virat Kohli should look to play the next ten Test matches over the next 15 weeks. See how he goes there.” Hogg expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube Channel. “But, if he does have to improve and lift the game, he has got to have the consistency again, and If India wants to win the World Test Championship, he will be crucial at number four.”
The 53-year-old also remarked that with the explosive batting of the Indian side in the middle order, it all boils down to how Kohli scores those runs to gel the batting of the two-time runners-up of the WTC cycles.
“Number four is a vital position, it’s a position where you can control the game. You can bat through the latter part of the innings. And with that explosive batting, they have got in that middle order, they need Virat Kohli to step up and play his role with the bat through the innings right to the end.” The spinner, who played 145 international games, highlighted.
The veteran finished by saying that the selectors could look towards the youth or persist with the experienced batter, but he found the question valid at this point.
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“If he can do that, then India will be very hard to beat in this World Test Championship. But, he needs to start performing, otherwise, the selectors are going to start thinking about whether they go for the youth moving forward or they give you more opportunities.” He shared his opinion.
“But you can only persist with someone out of form for so long. It’s a very good point there.” Brad Hogg concluded.