New Delhi, May 15 -- The clenched fists, the animated celebrations, the roaring send-offs and the unrelenting intensity - Virat Kohli didn't just play Test cricket. He performed it. He gave it a pulse in a time when the longest format was being pushed to the margins by the charm of white-ball cricket. Kohli turned Test cricket into a main event again and for a generation raised on instant thrills and depleting attention spans, he made them believe that a hard-fought dogfight on Day 5 was still the most exhilarating experience. Kohli was raw, volatile but magnetic. He didn't just bring eyes to the format - he made you feel something. The results were evident in India's never seen before wins, improved fielding and an era of fast bowling that gave India a cutting edge in foreign conditions. Through his 14-year-long career, he remained a relentless advocate of the format. His words following India's 178-run win over New Zealand at the Eden Gardens in 2016 come to mind where Kohli insisted that the charm of the longest format is unmatched. "A challenging situation in Test cricket is the most exciting thing a viewer can see, and for a player playing to feel. You can sense that energy, which no other format can provide for you," he said. Kohli had always been a bit of showman, but he also took on the responsibility of becoming a conductor of the crowd. "If we play cricket like this - you saw how engaged the crowd was, they like to see exciting cricket, and we have to provide it." Following the historic series win in Australia in 2019, Kohli said that with victories such as these, the team wants to spread the message that Test cricket is the most valued format of the game. "It improves you as a person. As long as the purest form of cricket stays alive, the game will stay alive," Kohli said in Sydney. Through these messages, he rekindled a passion for Test cricket among the younger generation within the dressing room and across the fanbase. Most tributes that have come in since his announcement on Monday have all highlighted the impact he has had on Test cricket. From shouting at stump mics to taking on crowds and the media in hostile press conferences - Kohli sought attention, and he always got it. But one thing was guaranteed through it all - you had to switch on the television or turn up in the stadium and stay glued as long as he was on the field. Every ball was an event. The nets session in Adelaide captured by Cricket Australia in 2018 that has garnered 3.8 lakh views on YouTube and over 10,000 reposts on X till date is a reminder of that. One would hope that his advocacy for the red-ball format has indeed passed on that deep love and fearlessness needed for the format to the next Indian generation as the they look to centre their packages around new stars. His memorable pep-talk before the English Test innings in Trent Bridge in 2021 urged the team to 'give them hell for 60 overs.' And for the 14 years he donned the whites, he tried to do exactly that. The younger generation led by Shubman Gill has vowed to carry forward that mindset. As the Indian test team enters an unheralded era, they will be expected to give their opponents hell too....