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Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli may have retired from Test cricket, but his love for the traditional format of the game is still clearly visible. Even after retiring from Test cricket in May 2025, Kohli continues to show how much the format means to him and the cricket fraternity is loving his passion.
Recently, former England captain Ian Botham has praised Kohli for his respect and dedication towards Test cricket. The legendary cricketer said that the former Indian captain’s mentality clearly shows why he is considered one of the greatest players of this generation.
Even after retirement, Virat Kohli’s love for Test cricket continues
Virat Kohli ended his incredible Test career on May 12, 2025, just before India’s tour of England. He scored 9,230 runs in 123 Test matches and also became one of India’s most successful Test captains. During his captaincy, India became one of the successful teams both home and away.
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Kohli brought aggression, energy and a winning mentality to the Indian team and led to many famous victories under his captaincy, including the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. After his retirement, Kohli has stressed several times that winning Test matches for India gives him more happiness than any other achievement, including RCB’s maiden IPL title in 2025.
Those words greatly affected Botham. The former England captain said that Kohli’s love for Test cricket perfectly explains his greatness and commitment towards the game. Botham also praised Kohli for giving so much importance to Test cricket at a time when T20 leagues are dominating the calendar.
Ian Botham calls Virat Kohli one of the best Test batsmen of the modern era
Speaking at the 12th edition of the Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture, jointly organized by The Bengal Club and The Telegraph on May 27, Botham said Kohli will always be remembered as one of the finest Test batsmen of the modern era.
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Botham said during his speech, “I love when Virat Kohli says that winning Test matches for India means more to him than anything else in the game. That’s the essence of him for me, even including winning the IPL. For me, he is definitely one of the best players in Test cricket.”
Virat Kohli says WPL has completely changed women’s cricket in India
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli feels that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) has completely changed women’s cricket in India. The RCB icon said that the level of women’s cricket has improved massively since the inception of the WPL.
He also said that this tournament is helping young Indian players to progress faster as they are regularly playing tough matches with some of the best cricketers in the world.
Kohli said on the RCB Podcast: “I have watched the WPL before. But this time, you look at the presence of the fans. There is a cricketer in me who can say, “I can see the difference.” But when the public starts seeing the difference, then you realize that the game has changed to a different level. When they played in Baroda, the stadiums were packed. You look at Navi Mumbai, I mean, packed. I thought, man, this is amazing. When they played in Bangalore, the turnout was phenomenal.”