India, May 13 -- As Virat Kohli calls time on Test cricket, there's a feeling of what could have been. Step past that, remember the craft, passion and the grit, and look under the hood. The numbers will show that as a batsman, Kohli may not have ended up where he promised for the first half of his career. But to those 9,230 runs, add his tenure as the Indian captain for 68 Tests that redrew the possibilities of Indian cricket, and Kohli's stature as a Test cricketer who defined the times, and embellished the format at large, would be well in place.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Hindustan Times....