Ahead of India’s five-match Test tour of England, star batsman and former captain Virat Kohli is said to have told the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he intends to retire from Test cricket. Days after his teammate Rohit Sharma similarly declared his retirement from the longest format, Kohli’s Test exit rumours have gained attention, with the tour set to start on June 20.
A few days ago, Virat Kohli informed the BCCI of his decision over his future in red-ball cricket, according to an India Today story. The seasoned batsman has received a message from a high BCCI official asking him to change his mind. To choose the team for the tour and make plans for the upcoming World Test Championship cycle, the selection committee is scheduled to convene shortly.
For many, Virat Kohli decision is shocking.
The 36-year-old has played a key role in India’s red-ball dominance over the last ten years, amassing 9,230 runs, including 30 hundreds, in 123 Test matches. His leadership and batting consistency improved the reputation of the Indian Test team, especially abroad. But his recent performance has been concerning.
The right-handed batsman only managed 190 runs in five Test matches during the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Despite having a century in Perth to start the season, he struggled in the rest of the games, displaying mechanical weaknesses against the moving ball. Eight of his ten dismissals were caught in the slips. It’s interesting to note that Kohli had already alluded to retiring in remarks at the Indian Sports Summit hosted by the RCB Innovation Lab.
He declared, “I am at peace with whatever happened in the past, and I may not have another Australia tour in me.”
Following Rohit’s abrupt Test exit, it was announced that Kohli will probably retire. After 12 hundreds and 67 Test matches, the Indian captain’s red-ball career came to an end. Due to poor returns, he had already missed the final Test match in Australia. Following India’s historic victory in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in Barbados, both Rohit and Kohli had previously retired from T20Is. Notably, India will enter the England series with a batting core that is primarily untested, placing a great deal of burden on KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, and Yashasvi Jaiswal assuming the Delhi native follows through on his plan.
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