India’s star batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 12, 2025 marking an end to an illustrious 14-year-old career which saw him dominate a variety of conditions, countries, and opponents in whites, both as a batter and captain.
Kohli took to his Instagram handle and announced his decision to retire from the longest format of the game.
“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,” Virat Kohli wrote on Instagram.
“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. I’ll always look back at my Test career with a smile. #269, signing off,” he further added.
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In his Test career, he had played 123 matches, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 centuries and 31 fifties in 210 innings and the best score of 254*.
He is India’s fourth-highest run-getter in the format, behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265 runs) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs).
Notably, he made his Test debut on June 20, 2011 against West Indies. His rise as a Test player started with his maiden ton against Australia at Adelaide in 2012, when he made 116 in 213 balls. In a tour where no other could touch 300 runs for India and giants like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag looked a shadow of their dominant selves, Virat top-scored for India with 300 runs in four Tests, including a century and fifty. Between 2011 to 2015, he made 2,994 runs in 41 Tests at an average of 44.03, with 11 centuries and 12 fifties in 72 innings.
Between 2016 to 2019, Virat had one of the strongest batting primes ever for a Test cricketer, piling up 4,208 runs in 43 Tests at an average of 66.79, with 16 centuries and 10 fifties in 69 innings and best score of 254*. This also included seven double centuries, most by a captain in Test cricket history.
However, the 2020s (post-covid era) have not been great for him, having made just 2,028 runs in 39 Tests at an underwhelming average of 30.72, with just three centuries and nine fifties to show in 69 innings. His numbers received a boost from a fine 2023, where he made 671 runs in eight Tests at an average of 55.91, with two centuries and two fifties in 12 innings.
He ended last year with just 382 runs in 10 Tests at a shocking average of 22.47, with just one century and fifty in 19 innings. His last Test outing was the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia from November-January, where he made just 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75, with his century at Perth being a highlight. That century was his first since July 2023, when he hit a ton against West Indies at Port of Spain in 2023.
Virat Kohli’s career has been about overcoming several setbacks and taking Indian cricket to new highs. Be it smashing a peak Australian attack led by Mitchell Johnson for 692 runs including four centuries during Australia tour in 2014-15 and announcing himself as the new captain, guiding India to ICC World Test Championship maces, having a dream-like, redemption tour to England in 2018 worth 593 runs and five fifty plus scores after managing just 134 runs in 10 innings during his last time in UK or braving world-class bowling attacks in Centurion, Melbourne, Perth, Edgbaston and at his own home with some world-class knocks,he has given fans tonnes of memories to replay and cherish forever.
It is be noted that on May 10, a news came that Kohli has informed the BCCI of his decision to walk away from Test cricket. The ripple effect was such that reportedly, the BCCI, out of desperation, urged Kohli to reconsider his decision, so as the Indian team that tours England for a five-Test series starting June 20 is not left inexperienced. However, a report in The Dainik Jagran claims something totally opposite. It states that Kohli wasn’t asked to reconsider his decision at all. And if anything, Kohli was told bluntly by the decision-makers that he does not warrant a place in India’s Test team anymore due to his poor form. In what turned out to be his last Test series in Australia, Kohli tallied just 190 runs from five Tests, averaging a shade above 23.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket has left his fans deeply saddened, and many are expressing their emotions on social media. Kohli’s retirement from Tests has made it crystal clear that breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries is now next to impossible — because it was only Virat Kohli who truly had the potential to break that record.
Now, Virat Kohli will play only ODI cricket, as he had already retired from T20s earlier. At this stage of his career, with 82 international centuries to his name, it seems almost impossible to break Sachin’s 100-century record by playing just ODI cricket.
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