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The M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru saw thousands of fans turning up in white jersey to hail Virat Kohli who retired from Test cricket earlier this week. While the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was abandoned due to rain, Australia's T20 World Cup 2021-winning captain Aaron Finch hailed Kohli's leadership in Test cricket. Finch said that Kohli sacrificed his own runs by putting the team and asking for spin-friendly pitches in India.
"What really stands out to me about Virat's leadership is that you can look at his numbers now and say they're not as good as they were five years ago. But he was playing on some wickets in India that were spinning hugely from day one. It was about putting your own ego aside to say, 'What's the best thing for my team right now to win a Test match against this opposition?'" Finch said while speaking on JioStar on May 17.
Kohli retired with 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85. In the last five years of his Test career, Kohli lacked consistency he used to have. Finch said that Kohli put his ego aside to do what's best for his team to win.
"They could have rolled out some flat wickets and said, 'I'm going to cash in on my own runs and make sure that my record stacks up with some of the all-time greats,' but he put his own ego aside and said, 'I want what's best for my team to win this match,'" Finch added.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri who teamed up with Kohli to beat Australia on Australian soil in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19, agreed with Finch's point.
"Brilliant point, and it sounds better when it comes from you rather than me," Shastri responded to Finch during the discussion.
Meanwhile, RCB and KKR shared one point each. RCB climbed to the top of the points table with 17 points from 12 games. On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been eliminated from the playoffs race. Kohli will be back in action when RCB go up against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at home on May 23.
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