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Virat Kohli Test Retirement: Former India captain Mohammad Kaif believes that the 36-year-old may not have gotten the support he expected from the BCCI and selectors following his retirement from Test cricket, which ultimately caused him to end his career with immediate effect.

On Monday, Kohli, who has been a mainstay of Test cricket for the last 14 years and amassed 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85 in 123 games, announced on Instagram that he will be retiring from the format immediately. Five days after India skipper Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket, he made his choice.

“I believe he wanted to stay in the format. There could have been some internal discussions with the BCCI; the selectors might have mentioned his performance over the previous five or six years and warned him that his place on the squad might be in jeopardy. Since it is so hard to predict what really transpired behind the scenes, we will never know what occurred.

However, after playing the Ranji tournament and making the last-minute choice, I firmly believe he wanted to return for the next Test matches. IANS cited Kaif as adding, “Given the events of the past few weeks, he might not have received the support he anticipated from the BCCI and selectors.”

Kohli has been having trouble scoring runs in Test matches lately. In nine innings of the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which India lost 3–1, he scored 190 runs. At Perth, 100 of those runs were scored in an undefeated second innings effort. Kaif believed that Kohli’s haste to get runs in Australia was another sign that his Test career was ending quickly.

He seems eager to score runs in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25. In Test cricket, you have to slog for hours on end, which he has done before, but I thought his patience was a little lacking because he kept edging the ball away from him when he was trying to drive.

There used to be a different level of patience displayed by him before; he used to leave the balls, take his time, tire the bowlers, and then take them down, but I did not see that from him in Australia. Perhaps he was thinking, “I am in the last phase of my career, what’s the point of scoring a gritty century?”

He may not have been prepared to work at the crease for hours, as shown by that one manner of dismissal at the slips. He said that the choice could have been influenced by the BCCI’s communication and red-ball cricket players’ self-realization.

Kohli’s choice perplexed me.
Kaif expressed astonishment at Kohli’s departure from the lengthier format, even though he was confident that Rohit would retire from Tests after declaring himself unavailable for the Sydney Test earlier this year. Conversely, I was perplexed by Virat’s choice. Although his Test-match stats have declined recently, 36-year-old Virat Kohli is still capable of making a return, as he has shown in the past.

“I thought he would coach the young players for a few years.” He always said that it was his favorite format, although this is a highly personal choice. You can see that he consistently praised the Test format in all of his interviews.

Kaif expressed astonishment at Kohli’s departure from the lengthier format, even though he was confident that Rohit would retire from Tests after declaring himself unavailable for the Sydney Test earlier this year. Conversely, I was perplexed by Virat’s choice. Although his Test-match stats have declined recently, 36-year-old Virat Kohli is still capable of making a return, as he has shown in the past.