Virat Kohli wants to retire from Test cricket before England tour; BCCI urges him to change his mind
Virat Kohli could be next to take retirement from Test cricket after Rohit Sharma, unless the BCCI manages to convince him to change his mind, as per a report.
Rohit Sharma’s retirement from Test cricket earlier this week had already shaken Indian cricket to its core. But to top it off, it now seems even Virat Kohli is preparing to hang up his boots in the longest format. That the two giants could step away within days of each other has triggered serious concern within the BCCI. And in Kohli’s case, the impact cuts deeper — this is a player who has long been one of Test cricket’s loudest advocates, often fronting global conversations around preserving the red-ball game.
According to the Indian Express, Kohli has informed the Indian cricket board of his desire to retire from Tests, although senior BCCI officials have requested him to rethink. “He has made up his mind and has informed the board that he is moving on from Test cricket. The BCCI has urged him to rethink as the crucial England tour is coming up. He is yet to revert on the request,” the report said, quoting sources.
The selectors are due to meet in the coming days to finalise the squad for the five-match series in England next month. If Kohli sticks to his decision, it will see an Indian batting order without significant Test experience, barring KL Rahul (58 Tests). That will also mean the team will no longer have the calming presence of the two veterans who, between them, have led India in red-ball cricket for nearly 11 years; Kohli took over as Test captain in December 2014, and Rohit succeeded the prolific batter in the role in February 2022.
Kohli’s own performance in the format, however, has dipped in recent years. He has played 123 Tests, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, but in the last five years, he has made only 1,990 runs in 37 Tests with three centuries. The batter's struggles in the red-ball format continued in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he failed to capitalise after a solid start in the first Test. Despite scoring a century in Perth, Kohli finished the series with an average of just 23.75 in five matches; to make matters worse, he repeatedly fell to deliveries outside the off-stump, nicking them for either the wicketkeeper or the slips.
Kohli's record in England, however, has been exemplary. The Indian batter endured a rough first tour to England, where movement outside the off-stump troubled him throughout the five-match series; his highest score on the tour was 39 during the third Test, and the batter admitted years later that he felt like the “loneliest guy” in the world after the failure. However, he roared back during his next tour in 2018, where he also led the Indian team. Kohli smashed 593 runs in five games, which included two centuries and three fifties.
While India did face a 4-1 series defeat on the tour, Kohli captained the side to a prolific performance three years later, securing a 2-1 lead after four matches before the final match was suspended due to COVID-19 related concerns. Jasprit Bumrah eventually led the team in the final Test, which was played the next year, but England defeated India to draw the series 2-2.
Kohli on his recent Test run
Ahead of the start of the 2025 Indian Premier League, Kohli had spoken about the poor run during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he hinted that he might have already toured Australia for the last time. “I might not have an Australia tour again in me in four years’ time,” he said, hinting that his Test days could be numbered.
He also offered a glimpse into the mental strain he’d been under. “Once you start taking on the energy and the disappointment from the outside, then you start burdening yourself way more… And then you start thinking about things, like ‘I’ve got two or three days left on this tour, I need to make an impact now’. And you start getting more desperate. That’s something I’ve surely experienced in Australia as well.”
“Because I got a good score in the first Test. I thought, ‘right, let’s go’. There’s going to be another big series for me. It doesn’t turn out that way. For me, it’s just about the acceptance of ‘okay fine, this is what happened. I’m going to be honest with myself. Where do I want to go? What are my energy levels like’.”
Despite retiring from T20Is after India’s 2024 World Cup win in the West Indies, Kohli has been in sublime form in IPL 2025, scoring 505 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 143.46. He's currently fourth in the list of highest run-getters in the 2025 season, but is only five runs behind the current Orange Cap holder, Suryakumar Yadav.
