The third innings in Chennai was as good a chance as any for Virat Kohli to get some runs behind himself heading into the Test season. Number three Shubman Gill and number five Rishabh Pant both brought up centuries, but number four sandwiched between them fell flat, dismissed for 17, not reviewing an LBW decision despite having inside-edged the ball. Marking his red-ball return after skipping the home series against England earlier this year, Kohli was on the cards for a big return match, but disappointed in both innings. He fell prey to the old demons of wafting at a ball wide outside off-stump in the first innings, and was once again exposed to his struggles against right-arm orthodox spin in the second.

Perhaps more concerningly for Indian cricket fans, there seemed to be something missing for Kohli. The player on show wasn't the same fired-up, bit-by-the-teeth individual that fans are used to, happy to turn the aggression up to eleven to bring the most out of himself. A player so intensely involved and committed almost looks to be disconnected.

Has something changed for Kohli? Gone seems to be the youngster who was getting in the faces of a fearsome Australian pace attack en route to a historic series down under, or the grizzled captain feuding with the English crowds as he charged his team towards high-pressure victories. A competitive edge is always present in athletes at the top of their sport, but Kohli's edge was unlike anything Indian cricket had seen before.

So where has it gone? And perhaps, more importantly, is its absence affecting Kohli’s batting?

That player is still there, undoubtedly, evidenced in Kohli's historic ODI World Cup run in 2023, his match-winning performance with bat in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, and a fantastic IPL 2024 where he ran away with the orange cap while striking at a faster rate than ever before. But there is no denying that Kohli's Test batting, in particular, reached greater heights when he actively fed the fiery competitor within.

A few elements could have contributed to this change fans see with Kohli, at least on the surface. There is the family element — now approaching his 36th birthday and the father of two children, Kohli has spoken about the importance of his family in his life, and the impact it has on any person cannot be understated. This is not the same Kohli of a decade ago, or even of four years ago. How can it be?

Just as significant is the very fact of his experience. Kohli has played top-level professional cricket for more than half his life, and has knocked down record after record in all formats. The energy and constant drive required to chase those accolades and remain at the top of the sport for as long as Kohli has is not something any player can be expected to carry forward forever. Having overtaken Sachin Tendulkar's ODI centuries record in the World Cup semifinal last year, to finally getting his hands on another ICC trophy in the form of the T20 World Cup: none of these have made Kohli a worse batter, but it is understandable why the well-sharpened sword may have dulled just a little.

Is Kohli shaping up for a new role?

And with experience comes responsibility. A veteran in their late 30s will certainly have a very different outlook to their role within a team than a lead-from-the-front 25-year-old trailblazer with little baggage and high ambition. Kohli is a senior figure within a young dressing room, as essential for his mentorship of starlets such as Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal as he is for his own runs. A different suit for every occasion, and the suit Indian cricket might need Kohli to don at the moment is that of the guru behind the scenes rather than the field general on the pitch.

Kohli's chat with his former teammate and new coach Gautam Gambhir for the BCCI website gives a window into this as well. "Sometimes you wanted that, and sometimes I wanted that confrontation, and that confrontation can get you in the zone, come what may," said Gambhir to his Delhi and India compatriot. "If you are asked at the end of your career if you regret any of those confrontations, you would say not at all. Because that is how you get those results, how you can score runs."

Kohli was in agreement. Hence, one thing can be taken for certain: Kohli doesn’t regret being the player and individual he was, so the fight and the fire is still there within him, even if it isn’t expressed outwardly.

Kohli isn't done with cricket just yet, and his production since the start of 2023 has been on par with the rest of his career. For now, Kohli's greatest concern seems to be his legacy, of growing Indian cricket to greater heights and leaving an impact that just his runs alone cannot explain. Indian fans undoubtedly miss the Kohli of old, with passion in his eyes and a fearlessness to fight what comes his way. But if this evolved version of Virat can achieve his goals and find the balance between legacy and keeping up with performances, it is a question that will be resolved soon enough, with an answer that makes all quarters happy.

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