Has Virat Kohli Gone Past His Prime In Test Cricket? Explaining The Downfall Of India's Great

Virat Kohli in action Vs NZ [Source: PTI]

Let's be really honest, Virat Kohli is a pale shadow of himself in the game's longest format. Gone are the days when he used to churn out double hundreds for fun in Test cricket, gone are the days when he had 27 Test tons and averaged nearly 55.

Till 2019, Kohli was at the peak of his powers as he used to churn out runs across continents. However, the downfall began in 2020 when Covid arrived. Prior to that, the former skipper of the team was the best batter on the planet and was simply untouchable. However, post 2019, he had a massive decline, at-least in Tests.

At the start of 2020, Kohli had already racked up 27 Test tons and was destined to achieve greatness in red-ball cricket. However, since then, he has only slammed 2 centuries, and his numbers have also gone down massively. In the same time period, his contemporary, Joe Root has smashed 17 Test centuries, showcasing how far Kohli has been left behind.

Kohli's massive downfall in the last 4 years (numbers explained)

The numbers clearly tell the entire story, facts don't lie. The decline started in 2020, however, in that year, Kohli only played 3 Tests. The real downfall started in 2021, when the legendary batter played 11 Tests and scored only 536 runs.

2022 saw Kohli's average once again gone down as he averaged just 26.50 and after the England Test, he took a break from the game. The numbers increased in 2023, as a rejuvenated Kohli outscored his peers and racked up two centuries and played a brilliant knock of 76 Vs South Africa on a spicy deck.

However, the story once again came back to full circle in 2024, where he once again struggled for runs at home turfs and so far, has only accumulated a solitary fifty. Till 2019, Kohli had racked up 7202 runs at an average of 54.97.

But since then, he has only accumulated 1816 runs, at an average of just 33.01.

Kohli will turn 36 next month, and the reflexes will start to slow down. Kohli doesn't have much time to improve his game at this stage of his career.

What can Kohli do to get the numbers high?

Over the last few years, Kohli has been a bit too defensive against the spinners, and they take advantage of it. The best example is how Mitch Santner took advantage of Kohli's vulnerabilities against spin bowling. 

Does Kohli have one more prime left in him? Probably not, but he can certainly bow out on a high, if he changes his approach, especially against the spinners.

---

ALSO READ

Virat Kohli Records

---