Former England skipper Nasser Hussain paid rich tribute to Virat Kohli, who announced his retirement from the traditional format of the game last month.

Kohli’s decision to call it quits came ahead of the England tour. He was expected to travel to UK for the five-Test series, which got underway on June 20 in Leeds. It was also reported that the BCCI officials were in talks with the stalwart to make him change his mind, but they couldn’t succeed.

On May 12, Kohli took to social media and stated that the decision to give up the format he loved most was "not easy, but it feels right".

Before the start of the Headingley Test, which marked the beginning of India’s new WTC cycle, Hussain hailed Kohli’s legacy and how the Indian talisman made Test cricket watchable with his aggressive captaincy, prolific batting and unmatched intensity on the field.

Hussain also recalled the Lord’s Test between the two teams in 2021 when Kohli spurred India to victory with his inspirational leadership.

“I was asked something by the ECB the other day, your favourite India, England moment historically, and there’ve been so many. It may not be my favourite, but it’s the one that stuck with me the most, was in the huddle that last morning at Lord’s when England were trying to chase down a score,” Hussain told Sky Sports.

“He was in the huddle pointing at every Indian player, telling them to unleash hell on that England batting lineup. And they did. That side became a mirror image of Kohli the character -- the feistiness of Siraj, Bumrah in your face, Shami in your face. Test match cricket is so much better when Kohli was playing,” he added.

Hussain further stated that while the cricketing world has always learned to move on from one great player to another, it will be tough to do so with Kohli.

“We will move on. We moved on from Gavaskar to Tendulkar to Kohli and maybe to Gill, but Kohli added so much to this game of cricket,” Hussain remarked.

Following RCB’s maiden IPL title win earlier this month, Virat Kohli discussed how the triumph still ranks five tiers below Test cricket. Moreover, he said that if the youngsters wanted to get the respect of their classmates and rivals, they should play Test cricket.

Nasser Hussain lauded Kohli for the same, saying: “It was great to see what he said when he won that IPL about Test match cricket and what he told the next generation of that is where you make your name in Test match cricket.”

Virat Kohli finished his Test career with 9230 runs from 123 matches at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries and 31 fifties, with the highest score of 254.

Having retired from T20Is last year, the 36-year-old will now focus solely on the One-Day International format.