Rishikesh (Uttarakhand) [India] June 22 : Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower reflected on Indian veteran batter Virat Kohli's retirement from test cricket. He felt 'Men in Blue' would miss Kohli's energy, positivity, and aggression on the field, but also said "India are lucky" that they have lots of young talent.
Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 12, marking an end to an illustrious 14-year career which saw him dominate a variety of conditions, regions, and opponents, both as a batter and captain.
While speaking to ANI, Andy Flower said, "I think it will have on the Indian team, not only his (Kohli's) runs, but his energy, positivity, and aggression. It is always nice having those influences in teams, where you have a few individuals that are super aggressive like he [Virat Kohli] is, in a good way. So, I think they might miss that."
"This is the reality of these situations when great players move on, is that time moves on and teams move on and India are lucky in that they have lots of young talent coming through," he added.
Flower said India still has experienced cricketers around, such as Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, and felt the Indian Premier League sets young players up quite nicely for pressure cricket.
"India still has some very experienced cricketers around who have played a lot of cricket. Bumrah is obviously one of them, and Jadeja is still playing. And the young boys are playing so much cricket, and the IPL sets them up quite nicely for pressure cricket," he said.
In his Test career, Kohli made 123 appearances in white clothing, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 centuries and 31 fifties in 210 innings and the best score of 254*. He is India's fourth-highest run-getter in the format, behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265 runs) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs).
India is touring England for a five-match test series, which started on June 20. This is the first test series since the legendary batter announced his retirement. This series also marks the beginning of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2025-27 for both nations.