Former England captain Joe Root has admitted that he’ll miss his on-field battles with India’s Virat Kohli when the two sides meet in the five-Test series in England that begins in Leeds on June 20. Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Tests on May 12, bringing an end to an excellent career.

Making his Test debut in 2011, Virat Kohli went on to play 123 Tests and scored 9230 runs with an average of just below 49. He also hit 30 centuries in the format, with his highest score being 254*.

Virat Kohli and Joe Root were regarded as the world's top batsmen for well over ten years. Root said he will "miss those battles" with Kohli, who is now retired from Test cricket.

“I’ve never been in competition with Virat. He is someone I’ve always admired and thought, ‘Wow, what a player.’ I’ll miss those battles we had on the field, but it provides opportunities for other players to try and put their mark on Test cricket,” Root said in a media interaction organized by Sony Sports Network.

The Indian Test team, which takes on England in five Tests, will miss the services of another experienced batter in Rohit Sharma, who has retired from the longest format.

“Cricket is poorer without them being around. They are two Indian legends. They’ve done amazing things for Indian cricket for such a long period of time. It’ll be a slightly different look to the series, but we still expect it to be highly competitive,” Root said.

According to Root, Jasprit Bumrah is not certain to play in all five Test matches, but when he does, the pacer is a serious threat. Instead of focusing solely on Bumrah, Root stated that the secret is to play the Indian attack as a whole.

“Every time he’s played, he’s had a huge impact. He is clearly going to be a big threat. We have to try and manage as best we can. You can’t single out individual bowlers. You have a plan for every challenge and different bowler type. There will be times when he (Bumrah) is going to be hard work, and we’re going to have to work through that. And when we get opportunities to score, we’ve got to take it,” Root said.

The 34-year-old is opposed to the idea of making Test matches four days. The Guardian reported that the ICC is prepared to approve four-day WTC Tests to encourage smaller countries to participate in more matches.

“I don’t really understand why you’d need to change it to four days. Coming from England, where it rains a lot, you’re basically asking for more draws, which nobody wants. It doesn’t really make sense to me. If you look at some of the greatest Tests of all time, they go right down to the wire on day five,” Root said.

Joe Root is the leading run-getter in Tests among currently active cricketers. He has 13006 runs in 153 Tests at an average of 50.80. He has hit 36 centuries and 65 fifties with a best of 262.