Greg Chappell says mental exhaustion led to Virat Kohli’s Test retirement

On May 12, Virat Kohli startled the cricket community by declaring his retirement from Test matches. Beginning on June 20, he was scheduled to play in India’s five-match tour of England. The 36-year-old, however, made the decision that it was time to leave the format he loves the most.

with recent years, Virat Kohli has faced difficulties with red-ball cricket.

The former captain of India has only amassed 440 runs at an average of 23.16 from 11 Test matches since 2024. During this time, he only recorded one fifty-one hundred. Fans, however, were anticipating that he would find his form again in the 2025–2027 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Greg Chappell, the former head coach of India, believes that Virat Kohli decision to quit from Test matches was caused by his inability to think clearly. According to Chappell, the great batter acknowledged that his mind was not in sync with his body, which was why it was faltering.

“His decision sprang from his increasing awareness that he was no longer able to muster the mental clarity that had formerly made him so formidable, not from a decline in competence. At the top level, he acknowledged, “the body falters unless the mind is sharp and decisive,” Chappell wrote in his ESPNcricinfo column.

“Decision-making is disrupted, footwork is hampered, and the spontaneity necessary for top performance is undermined when doubt starts to seep into the bones. Form is more a product of the mind than of mechanics, as demonstrated by Kohli’s retirement,” Chapell remarked.

Virat Kohli will continue to play for the Men in Blue in ODI cricket after saying goodbye to T20I cricket prior to Test cricket. The Delhi batsman finished with a respectable Test cricket record, scoring 9230 runs at an average of 46.85 from 123 Test matches. During his remarkable career, he recorded 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries.

India will be considering their options to play at No. 4 in the game’s longest format while he is away. Following a spectacular double century in the last four-day match between the India A and England Lions, Karun Nair might be the front-runner. Shubman Gill, the recently appointed Test captain of India, may also move down to No. 4.