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There are just a couple of days remaining until the first Test of the five-match series between England and India, starting at the Headingley in Leeds on Friday, June 20, to kick-start their respective World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 campaigns. Ahead of the big Test series, Joe Root, the former captain of England, spoke in an exclusive interview about Virat Kohli, who recently retired from Test cricket, calling the former Indian captain an inspiration to him.
During their illustrious careers, Joe Root and Virat Kohli captained their respective teams against each other in multiple Test series from 2018-22, with both leading England and India to home Test series wins respectively. Their rivalry wasn’t just in the captaincy front, but also with the bat in hand, scoring a truckload of runs, both home and away in Test cricket, to make it difficult for their respective oppositions to get results match after match.
I’ll always remember the battles we had on the field: Joe Root on Virat Kohli
But, after the sudden Test retirement from Virat Kohli, the fans won’t be able to see him battle against Joe Root this time around in England in a five-match Test series, which is a bit of a damper on things. Although Joe Root had an entirely different perspective of playing against Virat Kohli, which he revealed to Sportstar by saying, “I have never competed with Virat. He has always been an inspiration to me, and I’ve always thought, ‘Wow, what a player’. I’ll always remember the battles we had on the field.”
Apart from Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma also announced his Test retirement recently, on which Joe Root gave his heartfelt remark. He said, “Cricket feels a bit incomplete without them. Both are Indian legends. They have made incredible contributions to Indian cricket for a long time. The series will certainly look a bit different, but we still fully expect the competition to be intense.”
Moreover, the weather for the first Test match between England and India is expected to be quite pleasant and warm with an occasional shower here and there, a good sign for the fans wanting to enjoy uninterrupted cricket over the maximum of five days.
