Ending two days of speculations, Virat Kohli made his retirement from Test cricket official when he announced the decision on his Instagram handle. Virat Kohli, the former India captain, has announced his retirement from Test cricket with just a little over a month to go before the England tour. Kohli, 36, made the decision days after fellow Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma bid adieu to the format. The news that Kohli informed the BCCI about his decision to retire from Test cricket sent shockwaves early morning on Saturday. He still isn’t as aged as some of the legends to have continued playing before him and has yet to breach the 10,000-run mark. Still, Kohli felt it was the right time to walk away from the format, having scored 9230 runs from 23 Tests at an average of 46.8 and ending as India’s fourth-highest run-scorer in Tests behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Rahul Dravid (13265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10122).
“It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on. It’s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I’ll carry for life. There’s something deeply personal about playing in whites. The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever,” Kohli announced on social media on Monday.
“As I step away from this format, it’s not easy — but it feels right. I’ve given it everything I had, and it’s given me back so much more than I could’ve hoped for. I’m walking away with a heart full of gratitude — for the game, for the people I shared the field with, and for every single person who made me feel seen along the way.”
Kohli’s retirement means that the Sydney Test against Australia is his last. It also means that with Kohli, Rohit and Ravichandran Ashwin already retired, and no Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara in the mix, India will be low on experience for the England Tests, with Ravindra Jadeja likely being the most capped cricketer of the squad, which reportedly is to be picked next week. With Kohli having now retired from T20Is and Tests, his sole focus remains ODI cricket – of which he is the undisputed king – with the 2027 World Cup in South Africa at the top of his priority list.
In a stellar 14-year-long career, Kohli enjoyed many highs, none more so than leading the country in Tests and emerging as India’s most successful captain in the format with 40 wins from 68 matches. This includes India’s memorable series win in Australia for the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which Kohli’s unit clinched by beating the Aussies 2-1 for the first time on their soil. Under Kohli, India won the ICC mace five years in a row, finishing as the No. 1-ranked Test team
Still, the fact that Kohli has decided to end his Test career is surprising given his love for the format. As long as Kohli has been playing, he has always been a vocal advocate of the format. While he was captain, Kohli, with coach Ravi Shastri at the helm, formed an enviable Indian pace-bowling attack that would regularly take all 20 wickets, making India a dangerous touring unit in an era dominated by home teams.
Kohli’s captaincy resonated and rose with his batting simultaneously. Starting off as a brash youngster who infamously once flipped the Sydney crowd, Kohli took the stairs to success as the world’s greatest Test batter. After marking his arrival with a century in Adelaide, Kohli did not look back. In 2013, Kohli struck his maiden overseas ton against South Africa in Johannesburg, which would have paved the way for bigger and better things. And it did, but not without baptism by fire. Kohli, expected to be the next big thing in Indian cricket, faced his first real test against England in 2014. Kohli struggled against the swinging ball, with James Anderson exposing his vulnerabilities outside the off stump. With just 134 runs from five Tests, Kohli was crestfallen, but that was just the calm before the storm.
