Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli are among the finest batters of their generation, but one milestone will forever remain just out of reach. In Test cricket, 100 matches and 10,000 runs are often seen as the benchmarks of true greatness. Those who achieve both attain legendary status, but even those who fall short of one are hardly diminished. For Williamson and Kohli, playing 100 Tests is something they will always cherish. Yet, not reaching 10,000 runs in the format they loved most will remain a lingering “what if”. Not from a personal perspective, perhaps, but certainly for the legion of fans who have admired them over the years.
Kohli and Williamson have long shared a genuine bond built on mutual respect. Careers that began together all those years ago in Kuala Lumpur came full circle just 13 months apart. They were competitors, rivals and, above all, friends. They stood on opposite sides in some of cricket’s biggest contests, including the 2019 World Cup semifinal and the 2021 World Test Championship final, but their camaraderie never diminished. That is why Kohli’s heartfelt message for Williamson after the New Zealand great announced his retirement from international cricket came as little surprise.
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Kohli and Williamson could hardly have been more different. You could never keep Kohli out of the action. He spoke his mind, charged at the opposition and never shied away from getting under an opponent’s skin. Williamson, meanwhile, was the complete opposite. The epitome of a nice guy, he went about his business quietly and, before anyone realised it, had established himself as one of the world’s finest batters.
Around 2015 and 2016, Williamson’s batting had made him a cut above the rest, with Steve Smith and Kohli not far behind. That changed over the next few years as Kohli produced a stellar 2016 and soared to even greater heights. World cricket was privileged to witness the Fab Four in full flow. Since Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee, the game has rarely seen four cricketers of such immense talent and ambition dominate an era the way Kohli, Williamson, Smith and Joe Root did over the past decade.
Fab Four dwindling down
And after years of domination, just like that, the Fab Four is down to two. Williamson is gone, while Kohli, Smith and Joe Root now feature in just one format, with the former Ashes captains having crossed the 10,000-run mark in Tests. Sadly, it is a milestone that Kohli and Williamson chose not to chase. Virat finished 770 runs short, Kane 485. Could they have stretched their careers and got there? Certainly. Would their legacies be any less without it? Absolutely not.
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The reasons behind their retirements could not have been more different. Kohli, as he suggested during his explosive podcast appearance last month, made it clear that he had little interest in hanging around trying to prove himself. Whether retiring from Test cricket was entirely his decision or one influenced by circumstances is something we may never know. But for a player who once openly spoke of his desire to score 10,000 Test runs, falling short leaves the story without its perfect ending.
That said, Kohli’s legacy extends far beyond numbers. As captain and batter, he transformed India’s Test team. Finishing five consecutive years as the No. 1-ranked Test side, winning a historic series in Australia and pushing England to the brink in their own backyard are standards difficult for any future Indian captain to match.
Why the story feels incomplete
Williamson’s story is different. New Zealand, as a nation, is nowhere near as cricket-obsessed as India; still, he became the country’s most prolific Test run scorer, a feat that deserves immense recognition. New Zealand had produced great match winners before him – Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, Nathan Astle and Brendon McCullum among them. But in Williamson, they found a batter capable of going toe to toe with the very best in the world. To retire in the middle of an ongoing series, at just 35, while still averaging 65 and 46 in his last two Test series, suggests a man completely at peace with his decision. Williamson never appeared driven by personal milestones. He never seemed consumed by the pursuit of numbers. However, having come so close to 10,000 runs without quite getting there feels like one final twist of fate from a sport that hardly scripts the perfect story, or in this case, the perfect ending.
This is what makes the story feel incomplete. Not because Kohli and Williamson needed 10,000 runs to validate their greatness, but because Test cricket deserved to see them get there. For more than a decade, they carried the format in their own ways. Kohli turned Test cricket into an obsession for a generation of Indian fans, while Williamson became its quiet custodian in a country where the sport has long battled for attention. Between them, they produced hundreds of days of excellence, drama and inspiration. In the end, they left just 1,255 runs on the table. A small number in the context of their careers, still one that leaves behind a lingering sense that two of Test cricket’s greatest servants deserved a more fitting statistical farewell.