Sanjay Manjrekar, former Indian cricketer and now cricket commentator, explained the characteristics of Virat Kohli in a new dimension. Kohli, who announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 12 through a social media post, played cricket's longest format for almost 14 years.

The Delhi-born batter made his debut in 2011 and announced his retirement in 2025. Along with his charismatic batting skills, he took the center of the stage for not behaving according to regulations. Despite spending so many years for India, people still criticized Kohli's on-field behavior.

Sanjay Manjrekar focused on that particular point of Kohli's career. According to him, the star Indian batter had broken all the blockades to take himself to another level, where only performance will speak. In the era of T20 cricket, Test cricket became less attractive for a part of cricket-loving fans.

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Virat, who displayed his talent in all three formats, urged young players and people to engage with the traditional format too. The batter who played the cover drive like a stroke on the canvas had played 123 matches and finished with 9230 runs at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries. The star cricketer smashed the most double centuries in Tests among the Indian batters.

Virat Kohli: A modern day hero

"In every way he was a modern-day hero, a role model for young athletes with his six-pack abs, his tattoos, and his style of playing cricket. He did not conform to behaving ‘correctly’ on the field... he was there to win, and he wasn’t going to let convention get in the way. But he worshipped Test cricket," Sanjay expressed himself in a recently published article. 

"And for a while when Test cricket was really struggling (and will continue to do so) as a format, Virat invested much in it, showing that his heart was in the right place. He is a very rich sportsman, but until the very end, he gave his all to Test cricket, the most non-lucrative form of the game."