The storied rivalry between India and England resumed in Leeds on Friday (June 20). Shubman Gill-led India dominated the proceedings on the opening day and put on a big total of 359/3 on the board. Captain led the team from the front and remained unbeaten on 125. His deputy, Rishabh Pant, remained unbeaten on 65. The opening day kicked off a new era in Indian cricket as it's their first Test series without Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma since 2011.

Virat was part of every England Test tour from 2011 to 2022. He played his first Test in the country in 2014. It was under Virat's captaincy, in 2021, that India returned home with a 2-1 lead after 4 Tests. The fifth game was played a year later. Virat had relinquished captaincy by then.

Nearly two weeks before the squad announcement for the ongoing England series, Virat announced his retirement from Test cricket. The India legend looked set to be part of the series but he had made his decision to retire in April. India will surely miss Virat's energy when they come out to field in the second innings of the game.

During the opening day, former England captain Nasser Hussain talked about Virat and heaped praise on him. Speaking to Sky Sports, Nasser opined on why Test cricket was "so much better" when Virat Kohli was playing.

The cricketer-turned-commentator picked a moment involving Virat that stuck with him. Further, he namedropped the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and newly-appointed Test captain, Shubman Gill.

"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," he told Sky Sports.

“They unleashed hell and their side became a sort of mirror image of Kohli, the character, the feistiness of Siraj, Bumrah in your face, Shami in your face. Kohli, Test match cricket is so much better when Kohli was playing. 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."

Virat's motivation worked wonders for India and they bowled out England for a mere score of 120, thus registering a 151-run win. Jasprit Bumrah dismissed 3 batters while Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma scalped 4 and 2 wickets, respectively, in the win.

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