'From an opponent to a friend': Kohli pens heartfelt farewell message for Kane

Former India skipper Virat Kohli paid an affectional tribute to Kane Williamson aft the New Zealand batting large announced his contiguous status from planetary cricket connected Friday.Williamson's determination brought the curtain down connected a singular planetary vocation spanning 16 years, during which helium established himself arsenic 1 of the finest batters of the modern epoch and 1 of New Zealand's greatest-ever cricketers.

Soon aft the announcement, Kohli took to X and shared a heartfelt connection for his longtime rival and friend, reflecting connected the enslaved they developed done years of competing astatine the highest level.

"From an hostile to a person implicit the years. It’s been a pleasance watching you bat and vie against you implicit truthful galore years but much than that I worth our relationship and shared perspectives connected the crippled and beyond. I proceed to cherish each clip we talk oregon meet.

Wishing you thing but the champion ever brother. You’ve done your bit, you merit to bask each of it present and enactment your feet up. Well done mate, life’s lone conscionable begun.

"Kohli and Williamson were 2 pillars of the celebrated "Fab Four" generation, alongside

Steve Smith

and

Joe Root

. Over the past decade, the brace earned immense respect from fans and chap cricketers alike for their consistency, enactment and performances crossed formats.

Interestingly, some batting greats finished their Test careers conscionable abbreviated of the coveted 10,000-run milestone. Williamson ended with 9,515 runs successful 110 Tests astatine an outstanding mean of 54.06, scoring 33 centuries and six double-centuries. Kohli, who retired from Test cricket successful 2025, finished with 9,230 runs from 123 matches astatine an mean of 46.85, including 30 hundreds.Williamson leaves the crippled arsenic New Zealand's starring planetary run-scorer crossed formats.

The 35-year-old accumulated 19,346 planetary runs and was a cardinal fig successful 1 of the astir palmy periods successful New Zealand cricket history.Known for his calm demeanour and elegant batting, Williamson scored 9,515 Test runs, 7,256 ODI runs and 2,575 T20I runs during his planetary career. He besides captained New Zealand to the inaugural ICC World Test Championship rubric successful 2021 and led the squad to aggregate ICC tourney finals and semi-finals.His status came during New Zealand's ongoing three-Test bid against England, meaning the archetypal Test astatine Lord's was the last lucifer of his planetary career.As tributes poured successful from astir the cricketing world, Kohli's connection stood retired arsenic a reflection of the communal admiration and relationship shared by 2 of the defining cricketers of their generation.