"He does have to improve" - Brad Hogg on Virat Kohli's Test form

Team India's ace batter Virat Kohli suffered back-to-back failures in the Men in Blue's recently concluded Test series opener against Bangladesh in Chennai. He registered scores of 6 and 17 in the encounter.

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg was recently asked by a fan if Kohli should retire from Test cricket now. The cricketer-turned-commentator suggested that the 35-year-old should continue playing red-ball cricket till the culmination of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

However, Hogg emphasized that Kohli needed to bring back his A-game. He mentioned that the No. 4 batting position is crucial in Test cricket and the veteran batter must deliver if India want to win the WTC.

Speaking on his official YouTube channel, Hogg said:

"No, I think Virat Kohli should play out these next 10 Test matches over the next 15 weeks. See how he goes there. But he does have to improve. He has to lift his game. He's got to get that consistency again. If India are going to have a chance at winning the World Test Championship, here at number four is crucial.

"Number four is a vital position. It's a position where you can control the game, you can bat through the latter part of the innings, and with the explosive batting that they've got in that middle order, they definitely need Virat Kohli to really step up and play his role with the bat, batting through the innings right to the end."

Hogg opined that India would emerge as the team to beat in this WTC cycle if Kohli was at his vintage best in the remaining matches. He reckoned that if the former India captain continued to underperform, the selectors could look to replace him with a youngster, adding:

"If he can do that, then India will be very hard to beat in this World Test Championship. But he's got to start performing, otherwise, selectors are going to have to start thinking about whether they go for youth moving forward or they give you more opportunities."

Virat Kohli will next be seen in action in the upcoming second and final Test of the two-match series between India and Bangladesh. The match will be played in Kanpur from Friday, September 27.

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"The momentum that he's lost has been for a number of years now" - Brad Hogg on Virat Kohli

In another video published on his YouTube channel, Brad Hogg opined that Virat Kohli won't come near Sachin Tendulkar's Test tally of runs. He remarked that star batter seems to have lost a bit of steam and needed a turnaround.

Hogg said:

"I don't think Virat is going to get there now. I just don't think Virat is going to get there. I think he's lost his momentum and the momentum that he's lost has been for a number of years now. He's got to turn around in the next 10 Test matches, or he's going to drop off."

Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket. The Indian batting legend has 15,921 runs from 200 Tests. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, currently has 8,848 runs to his name in 113 Tests.