It was around 2pm on January 18, 2021, and the enormity of what India were up against on day five at The Gabba was slowly dawning on us. Australia had set India a target of 328 and, on a wearing pitch, were overwhelming favourites to close out the series 2-1. The ball had started to misbehave from the cracks, and it was going to be a serious test for India’s batsmen against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.
Maybe it was on an impulse that I sent a message to Virat Kohli. How good would it have been had he been there on day five to bat at No. 4 for India? India’s best batsman for years, he had the skill and pluck to stand up against a hostile fast bowling attack in alien conditions. More importantly, he was a pillar of strength in the dressing room. Also, the way he had batted in the first innings in Adelaide against the pink ball was proof of his class, and his presence at the Gabba would have given the team that much more comfort going into the final day of the series.
🚨 INTERVIEW: @DeepDasgupta7, former India wicketkeeper, looks at the legacy that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma leave behind, and tells @CricSubhayan who he feels will be able to take the baton forward.https://t.co/XYSKLgmHA3
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Within minutes of sending the message, Virat replied, saying India had batsmen to do the job and this was the day the team had been waiting for. He said it did not matter if he was there or not, for the men who were there at the Gabba were all capable of making history. Virat, it was clear, was the absent presence in Brisbane. He was on paternity leave and may have been home in Mumbai with his wife and newborn daughter, but a part of him was at the Gabba with the boys urging them to achieve the unthinkable.
“For years, we have prioritised Test cricket,” he told me. “It is time we get the rewards for all the hard work we have put in.” Candid and matter of fact. Losing wasn’t a consideration, and India’s captain had complete faith in his deputy and the rest of the boys doing duty in Australia. When I mentioned to him that it would be the best series victory ever if it happened, Virat responded in a flash stating that he would be the happiest, for this was what the team had been building up to since he had taken over as India’s red-ball captain in Australia in December 2014.
You’d rather look for an erase button to forget his slump, but remember instead how he wore his heart on his sleeve. The shirt numbered 18 will bask in its glory long after Kohli bid adieu to Test cricket.
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It wasn’t something Virat was telling me for the first time. In almost every interview I have done with him and in almost every conversation we had, he has repeatedly harped upon the importance of Test cricket. “If you wish to be remembered in cricket history, you need to do well in Test cricket” was the Virat mantra, and the message he passed on to his team.
Is that his real legacy?
The other thing which Virat did was address the key issue of fear of failure. “I have to take accountability for my failures just as I take responsibility for my success,” he said to me in one of our many conversations.
Virat may have called it a day in whites, but exactly like the statements mentioned here, he did so on his own terms.
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