Virat Kohli Retires from Test Cricket After 14 Years

Virat Kohli, one of India’s greatest cricketers, has announced his retirement from Test cricket. The 36-year-old made this big decision just weeks before India’s tour of England. Kohli, who made his Test debut in 2011, has played 113 Test matches and scored 9230 runs at an average of 46.8. He is India’s fourth-highest run-scorer in Test history, behind only Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar.

In a heartfelt message shared on social media, Kohli said that playing Test cricket has shaped him as a person and taught him many lessons. He called the format deeply personal, saying that though stepping away was difficult, it felt like the right time. “I’ve given it everything I had, and it’s given me so much more in return,” he wrote.

Kohli’s retirement follows that of Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, and with other senior players like Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara missing from recent squads, the Indian Test team will now look much younger and less experienced. All eyes will now be on players like Ravindra Jadeja, one of the few senior members likely to continue.

As a captain, Kohli was extremely successful. He led India in 68 Test matches, winning 40 of them, the most by any Indian captain. Under his leadership, India became the No 1 ranked Test team for five straight years and famously won their first-ever Test series in Australia in 2018–19.

His personal achievements are also remarkable. Between 2015 and 2019, Kohli was in top form, scoring runs around the world. His performances in Australia and England won praise even from his toughest critics. In 2016, he scored over 1200 runs in the format, and in 2018, he returned to England with a brilliant 593-run series, overcoming past failures.

However, Kohli’s form dipped after 2019. For nearly three years, he didn’t score a single Test century. Though he ended that dry spell with a century against Australia, his performances lacked the same consistency and impact. With his average dropping and new challenges ahead, Kohli decided it was time to move on.

Now, Kohli will focus fully on limited-overs cricket, especially ODIs. He is expected to play a key role in India’s campaign for the 2027 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. Although fans will miss seeing him in whites, his contributions to Indian Test cricket — both as a player and a leader — will be remembered for generations.