‘India will miss his fighting spirit, competitiveness and desire to win': England captain Ben Stokes on Virat Kohli
England's Test captain Ben Stokes paid rich tributes to Virat Kohli, who announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 12. India are playing five Test matches against England, starting June 20.
Ben Stokes spoke to the official social media channel of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on the eve of the opening day of the English summer. England are playing a four-day Test match against Zimbabwe, starting tomorrow.
'I think what India will miss will be his fighting spirit, competitiveness, desire to win. He has made number 18 (jersey) his own, we will not see that number on the back of any Indian shirt. He has been class for India for a long period of time. I texted him that it's going to be a shame not playing against him. I love playing against Virat. We both love playing against each other. We both have the same mindset (desire to win). We know it's a battle. He's been a class player,' said the English skipper
The interviewer asked Ben Stokes to rank Virat Kohli amongst the list of players he has played with or against and the talismanic all-rounder provided a wow moment.
'Definitely, he's up there. White ball format especially. Just wow. I will remember the cover drive'
Virat Kohli finished his Test career as the fourth leading run-scorer (9230 runs) and fourth leading centurion (30 centuries). His 7 double centuries as a captain are the most in Test cricket. Virat Kohli led India in 68 Tests and managed to win 40 of those.
Virat Kohli's 593 runs in India's tour of England in 2018 are the second-most by an Indian batter in a series in England, only behind Rahul Dravid's 602 runs in 2002. Overall, he scored 1991 runs in 28 matches at an average of 42.36 against England.
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