Virat Kohli's 'under the radar' Test retirement catches Aaron Finch by surprise: 'England was one huge push for him'
Former Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch said Virat Kohli's Test retirement really caught him by surprise.
Former Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch said that Virat Kohli's retirement from Tests really caught him by surprise as he was expecting the Indian superstar to board the flight to the UK for the upcoming five-match Test series between India and England, beginning June 20. The 36-year-old Kohli announced his retirement from Tests earlier this week, bringing the curtain down on his 14-year-long Test career, having played 123 Tests.
The right-handed Kohli scored 9230 runs with an average of 46.85. He smashed 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries. Kohli also registered seven double centuries and he finished his Test career with a highest score of 254 not out.
Kohli's retirement from Tests came days after Rohit Sharma's announcement of walking away from the longest format. India would now be without their two senior pros for the upcoming series against England, which will begin in Leeds.
“I think it caught everybody by surprise. I think we all thought that England was one huge push for him to try and make that a really memorable series, particularly after the disappointment of Australia at home,” said Finch on JioStar before the start of the IPL 2025 fixture between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
“So that really caught me by surprise and the way that it happened, just under the radar, a bit the same as Rohit, where just Instagram or social media gets the scoop these days,” he added.
‘It would be sad’
Aaron Finch, who was part of the 2015 World Cup-winning squad, also said that it would be sad to see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not donning the whites for India.
“So yeah, it'd be sad not seeing both of those guys pull on the whites anymore for India,” said Finch.
The IPL 2025 season will resume on Saturday with the contest between RCB and KKR at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. According to reports, Virat Kohli fans are planning to pay a special tribute to their favourite star by wearing an‘18’ number jersey for the match to honour the superstar's legacy in Tests.
Kohli finished 770 runs short of the 10,000 mark in his Test career. He is the most successful Indian Test captain, having won 40 Tests out of the 68 games he led.
Under his leadership, India won their first-ever Test series in Australia during the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
