Will Virat Kohli’s Ranji Trophy return force BCCI to close the doors on him for India vs England Tests?

From 2011 to 2019, Kohli averaged 54.8 and hit 27 hundreds. From the start of 2020, he's got just 3 hundreds and scores just 30.7 runs per dismissal.

By 2019, many had labelled Virat Kohli as the greatest Indian batter of all time. Across formats, you didn’t have anyone but Kohli, who averaged over 50. Sir Don Bradman didn’t play ODIs, and Sachin Tendulkar got just one T20I to his name, but Kohli seemed to be the only batter to conquer every format.

Virat Kohli’s Test dominance in the 2010s

From 2012 to 2019, he was on another level. Most would say that Test cricket was his worst format, or rather, the least good. But at his peak, he scored 6981 runs at 57.22. 27 of his 30 hundreds came in this period. From 2016 to 2019, he scored 7 double hundreds. Only three batters have hit more.

If not for Steve Smith, he would have been awarded the ‘ICC Test Batter’ of the 2010s. His average was 55.10 at one point in 2019; now it’s 46.85. He was scoring runs for fun.

Recent and not-so-recent struggles

Six years later, there is a chance that he might not play the India cricket team’s next Test series against England. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), he wasn’t among India’s top four batters. Remove his unbeaten hundred, which he scored after coming to the crease at 275/2; Kohli made 90 runs in 8 innings.

Following this astronomical failure, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a mandate that ensured that all international cricketers would play in domestic cricket according to their wants, but if and when available. The mandate was brought in due to both senior batters in Team India, Rohit Sharma and Kohli, failing in the BGT.

That move wasn’t appreciated by many, but BCCI felt they had to crack the whip. As far as results go, the trick didn’t work. Rohit Sharma scored just 31 runs in two innings, and Kohli got just 6 runs in one outing. Rohit Sharma was already dropped or rested himself as the captain during the BGT, and the case, therefore, is different with him. Kohli has played all Test matches for Team India since making himself a mainstay. But for the last five years, he’s averaged just 30.7.

Virat Kohli’s Test record

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Will BCCI take a call on Kohli’s Test career?

Although just one dismissal, getting castled with a ball that didn’t do much isn’t a great look. He was, of course, caught behind the stumps eight times in Australia. The question is, for how long can BCCI continue to ignore the failures? Players of Kohli’s talent aren’t found every day, but isn’t there a player anywhere in India who can average 30?

Is there any use in backing someone whose results haven’t improved for half a decade and who’s currently 36 years old? There are still more than 5 months before the India vs. England Test series kicks off; the BCCI has ample time to decide whether these failures are the last straw or to give Kohli a chance in England, a country where he averages 33.21 after 33 innings.