To say that 2024 has been one of Virat Kohli’s leanest international years will be a massive understatement. Fifteen innings across formats have yielded a solitary half-century, admittedly one of the most important of his illustrious career – his multi-geared 76 in the final of the T20 World Cup against South Africa, an effort that netted him the Player-of-the-Match honour in his last 20-over appearance for the country.

Kohli was otherwise found wanting during the T20 World Cup on the dodgy pitches in New York which primarily assisted the pacers, and on the diabolically spin-friendly pitches in Colombo during the three One-Day Internationals last month. He was made to look decidedly human in both continents, a far cry from the run-hungry machine that lorded the sport for five years between the end of 2014 and the end of 2019.

Kohli hasn’t played Test cricket since January 4, when India conquered South Africa inside two days in Cape Town to square an action-packed showdown 1-1. Away on paternity leave for the entire five Tests against England, he returned with a bang during IPL 2024 with 741 eye-catching runs during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s last charge to the playoffs. But the subsequent plateauing of performances for the country have been further magnified by the incandescence of Joe Root, enjoying a fresh lease of life in the five-day game after being sacked as captain two years back.

Where Root’s graph has surged onwards and upwards, Kohli’s has gone in the opposite direction. International cricket’s Fab Four batting band has shrunk by half in the last few years, Steve Smith and Kohli going off the boil and leaving Root and Kane Williamson as sole members of the Terrific Two club. Kohli hasn’t been a great one for tags and labels and pigeonholing, so he will lose no sleep at the ‘downgrading’ of his status by the outside world; after all, by his own admission, he doesn’t pay too much attention to what he calls ‘outside noise’. But the proud competitor will recognise that he hasn’t been able to live up to his own standards. He will be energised by Root’s recent rip-roaring form, no doubt, because that’s what great champions do. But he won’t consider Root his competition; Kohli’s competition is largely with himself, and he will be more focused on being the best version of himself with each passing outing.

Virat Kohli's 'up-and-down' graph

Kohli shed a lean trot of nearly three years without an international century during the T20 Asia Cup in Dubai against Afghanistan in September 2022. That lone T20I hundred opened the floodgates, particularly in One-Day Internationals; he did make a monumental 186 on an absolute featherbed in Ahmedabad against Australia in March last year and followed it up with 121 in Port of Spain seven months later, which means he has only gone four innings without a Test ton. Those four knocks came on sub-standard pitches in South Africa when he ticked off scores of 38, 76, 46 and 12, so it won’t be fair to say that he has found Test cricket a struggle. But because he hasn’t quite matched up to the beast mode he had slipped into for five years, and because he is Virat Kohli, he will always be judged differently and hence the perception that he hasn’t quite matched up.

Time isn’t exactly Kohli’s ally. A month and a half shy of his 36th birthday, he has completed 16 years at the highest level and even though he is as fit as anyone else, he must be aware that the clock is slowly winding down. The next four months will be massive from that perspective. Five Tests at home will be the perfect appetiser before the main course in Australia, where he has a standout Test record but where too he has played just one Test in the last five and a half years.

At one point considered an overwhelming favourite to join the legendary Sachin Tendulkar in the 100 international hundreds club, Kohli is now a considerable 20 tons short of that milestone. Even though he did go past the great man’s record tally of 49 ODI centuries at the World Cup last year, the master’s 51 Test hundreds isn’t under immediate threat. India’s recent cricketing culture has encouraged players to look beyond individual milestones and place team requirements at the top of the agenda, and few have espoused that culture with greater emphasis than Kohli. Root’s rejuvenation and Tendulkar’s imposing benchmark could be Kohli’s driving force. But more importantly, it will remain his inner fire, burning bright as ever, and the unmatched passion that he has worn on his sleep for more than a decade and a half now.

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