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36 -year -old Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket on 12 May. If he had played 1-2 more years, he would have become India’s third top scorer in this format by scoring 10,000 runs, but Virat did not care for the record.
Virat was India’s fourth top scorer. Kohli retired in the top-5 test scorer in the country. Sachin Tendulkar had scored 9 Test centuries after the age of 36. He played for 40 years, but Virat did not allow his career to be long in this format.
Know 4 things in the story …
- 5 big reasons for Virat’s retirement
- Top-5 retirement among Indians
- Three Indians have also retired at an early age
- 5 such records that were missing from breaking
1. 5 reasons for Virat’s retirement
i. Lost your peak form in test
Virat Kohli scored his 27th Test century in 2019. The next year, the Korona virus came, the matches started decreasing and Kohli lost his peak form. By 2019, he had scored 7202 runs at an average of around 55. He could only score 2028 runs at an average of just 31 in the 39 Tests of the next 5 years. During this time only 3 centuries came out of his bat.
The contribution of Kohli’s bad form in the bad form of corona also had a big contribution. After the epidemic, Kohli scored an average of 32.09 in 37 Tests, which was extremely normal than his standard. However, the average of the top-7 batters around the world was just 29.87 during this period. At the same time, except Kohli, the average of the remaining top-7 batter of Team India was also 31.15. That is, in the last 5 years, Kohli continued to compete in the top batters of the world, but he did not like to fall into his own standard.
Kohli out of form was also seen in their last 3 series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia. They could only put a fifty and a century. From 3 to 5 January, he played the last Test against Australia in Sydney and retired in May.
ii. Head coach Gambhir’s strict policy
Gautam Gambhir was made the new head coach of Team India in August 2024. As soon as he became a coach, he made a statement that he wanted to end Team India’s star culture. He believed that fans and management focus should be more on the team’s victory than the records of the player.
After Gambhir’s entry, the BCCI banned the family from longer for a long time. Former captain Rohit Sharma and some senior players of the team appeared angry with the decision. After Gambhir became a coach, the team suffered a series defeat from New Zealand and the series from Australia on his field. After which Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had to retire.
In the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from the Test.
iii. Rohit Sharma’s Influence
Team India’s ODI captain Rohit Sharma retired from the Test on 7 May. Within 5 days, Virat Kohli again said goodbye to red ball cricket. This is not the first time the two players retired from a format together.
When India won the T20 World Cup on 29 June 2024, Player of the Final Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20 in the presentation ceremony. Shortly thereafter, Rohit Sharma also celebrated the shortest format while celebrating the victory. That is, Rohit’s test retirement pressured Kohli to retire somewhere.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from T20 on the same day.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took Test retirement within 5 days.
iv. Signs were given in Australia
India made a Test tour of Australia between November and January, where the team suffered a 3–1 defeat. Kohli scored a century in the first match, after which he felt that he had returned his form. However, in 7 innings of the latter 4 Tests, Virat was caught in the slip off the off of the off stump every time. He could not put a single fifty and finished the series with 190 runs.
After the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Kohli said that he has started losing his form in this format. According to the TOI report, he had told his fellow player that he did not see himself moving further in this format. After which Kohli took retirement in May.
Watch Kohli’s performance in BGT 2024-25 in graphic …
v. Thinking of giving young players a chance
The World Test Championship (WTC), which started in 2019, is also a major reason for Kohli’s retirement. Because the 5 -Test series of Team India will begin in England from June 20. Which is India’s first series in the WTC of 2027, from here Team India will be decided to reach the final.
Kohli has said in many interviews that if he feels that he is unable to contribute for the team, he will retire. He must have realized that to prepare the youth team, it is necessary that the new team in the WTC will get a chance. Because they have taken Team India to the final of WTC 2 times under their own captaincy. When Kohli was no longer a captain, the team could not qualify for the title match. In such a situation, it is possible that Kohli took retirement keeping in mind the future of the team.
Team India was the number-1 Test team for 42 months under Kohli’s captaincy. He also took the team 2 times to the WTC final.
2. The most retirement in India’s top-5 run scorer
Virat Kohli stood fourth in India’s Top-5 Test run scorer. Kohli was just 770 runs away from 10,000 runs, if he had scored 893 more, he would have become the third top scorer in the country. Now Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar are the only Indians who have 10,000 runs in the Test.
When India’s top-5 run scorer retired except Kohli, he was only 38 years or more. Gavaskar retired 38, Dravid 39 and Laxman retired at the age of 38. Sachin played till the age of 40, not only that he also scored 9 Test centuries after 36 years. In such a situation, the question is bound to arise that Kohli did not take Test retirement 2-3 years ago?
3. Indians who retired at a young age
Kohli was not the first Indian to retire at an early age. Ravi Shastri retired from the Test at the age of 31 and MS Dhoni at the age of 33. At the same time, Suresh Raina, the first player to score a century in all three formats for India, also retired at the age of 34. Dhoni played 90, Shastri 80 and Raina played 18 Tests.
4. 5 Virat missed by breaking records
- 10 thousand runs: Virat finished his Test career by scoring 9230 runs in 123 Tests. He stayed just 770 runs away from 10,000 runs. If he had made this record, he would have become the third Indian to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs and Tests. This record is the name of Sachin and Dravid.
- Top Indian Scorer in England: Virat Kohli also missed the record of the most runs in England. He played 17 Tests in English condition and scored 1096 runs, in which he was fourth in the case. Sachin Tendulkar is at number-1 after scoring 1575 runs. Dravid finished second and Gavaskar was third.
- Indians who won the most Tests: Virat Kohli won 62 Tests in 123. He would have won the most winning Indians in Tests with 11 and winning. Ahead of him was Sachin Tendulkar, who won 72 wins in 200 Tests.
- India’s top scorer in victory: In the presence of Virat, India won 62 Tests, scoring 4746 runs. If Virat had scored 1201 runs in the team’s victory, he would have become the most runs to score the most runs in the victory. Sachin topped 5946 runs.
- India’s top run scorer in WTC: If Virat had scored 100 more, he would have become the highest run -scorer for India in the World Test Championship. In this case, he would break Rohit Sharma’s record, whose names were 2716 runs. On the tour of England, Rishabh Pant can make this record, named 2252 runs.
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