Virat Kohli starts quest for a second wind as Test batter

It is now two years in a row that India's men's cricket team have had a lengthy break in the second half of the year. It was a luxury that was unimaginable a few years ago, but some of the seniors with may not mind that one bit.

As India resume their journey in whites after a gap of nearly six months, they will know that the journey would be one that could cause severe physical and mental exhaustion and keeping the players, who could prove to be difference makers, hungry and fit would be top priority.

One among them would be Virat Kohli, who has had a fantastic year so far both professionally and personally. Yet, as is the case with champions, something about their performances must rankle in their mind and for Kohli, it must be his numbers in Test cricket this year which currently reads: Played: 1 Runs scored: 58.

He was not part of the Test series triumph over England at home and nobody should be denied the opportunity to be by his/her partner's side when child birth is reaching the final stages. If anything, the decision to miss the series showed that what Kohli did by returning home from Adelaide during the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy was never to show a side of him that we did not know existed within him.

But over the course of the next four months, Indian cricket will want Kohli the Test batter in top gear for most parts of the season. India have 10 Tests- 5 at home and 5 away in Australia- and a chance to qualify for an unprecedented third World Test Championship Final in a row is a mouth watering prospect.

At the age of 35 with over 8000 runs under his belt, some might question the motivation for Kohli to turn up and train with the same level of intensity every single day. Yet, if indeed he spent his break in London, it would not have missed his knowledge that Joe Root has had a spectacular time with the bat in the white flannels. In 11 Tests this year, Root has amassed 986 runs at an average of 54.77 with four centuries to his name. The tons took his tally to 34, five more than Kohli currently.

Some might say that the pandemic phase robbed Kohli of a few hundreds. Some might say that the pressure of staying afloat on the journey to reaching the WTC final forced India to play on turners, where even a score of 60 could prove more valuable than a century.

The harshest of critics could argue that Kohli the Test batter has regressed, since he got that hundred against Bangladesh in the pink-ball Test in November 2019. That this great batter, scorer of some magnificent hundreds in all conditions, should now go in search for a second wind to his career as a Test batter, where he would use all his physical and mental energies to play some breathtaking, match winning or match saving innings.

The journey towards getting that second wind as a Test batter will start against Bangladesh in Chennai on Thursday, on what could be a challenging surface against a potent spin attack.

Incidentally, 17 seasons ago, Kohli's all-time hero Sachin Tendulkar was also in search of a new, fruitful run with the bat in Tests. Tendulkar had gone the entirety of 2006 without scoring a Test hundred and in the first half of 2007, endured a gut-wrenching loss in the opening round of the ODI World Cup in the West Indies.

Like Kohli, his journey towards a batting revival in Test cricket began in Bangladesh and anyone who saw Tendulkar bat from then until the 2011 World Cup was taken back to a different time when the master looked near on invincible.

Tendulkar scored Test hundreds against all four SENA countries- against Australia and South Africa, both home and away- on his way to breaching the 50 Test century mark, helping win a Test series in New Zealand for the first time in over four decades, playing a role in a first Test series win in England in over 20 years and featuring in sides that won Tests in Australia and South Africa.

His duels with Dale Steyn, at the height of his powers, at such an advanced age made one feel 10 years younger, taking a generation of fans back to the times when he faced the likes of Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and adapted his game to meet the requirements of each of the challenges that came his way.

Like was the case with his hero, Kohli's chance to start a second wind as a Test batter starts with Bangladesh on Thursday. Between May 2007 and January 2008, Tendulkar featured in 12 Tests with India losing just two of those and winning four.

In 2024, India are five wins away from qualifying for the WTC final and have 10 opportunities to get there. They will want their talisman to play a big role in each of those wins and a start a second wind as a Test batter.