Virat Kohli's Test career ended on Monday. With an emotional message on Instagram, the former Indian cricket team captain brought down the curtains on an illustrious Test cricket career that saw him scale many peaks. Virat Kohli ended his Test career on 9230 runs in 123 Tests at an average of 46.85. Now, Virat Kohli will only be playing in the ODIs, after having retired from the T20I format post India's 2024 T20 World Cup triumph.
The star batter's retirement comes close on the heels of Rohit Sharma's retirement on May 7. If a report in The Indian Express is to be believed, Virat Kohli wanted to declare his retirement on that same day through social media. However, according to the report, Kohli was "advised to wait for a few days before making his statement public, as Operation Sindoor and the military conflict with Pakistan were in full swing."
After the ceasefire was announced between India and Pakistan on Saturday (May 10), the report says Kohli told the BCCI and selectors that he was would soon make his decision public and on Monday, announced his retirement from Tests. The desire to spend more time with his family is a key factor behind the decision, the report added. In the last one year, Kohli has often flown to England to be with his wife and actor Anushka Sharma, daughter Vamika and son Akaay.
After India's 1-3 loss to Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, the BCCI sent a directive restricting the number of days family members would be allowed with the squad. Kohli was apparently not happy with the decision.
"The role of family is very difficult to explain to people. How grounding it is to just come back to your family every time you have something which is intense, which happens on the outside," Kohli had said at an event during the IPL 2025.
"I don't think people have an understanding of what value it brings. I don't want to go to my room and just sit alone and sulk. I want to be able to be normal. Then you can really treat your game as something that is a responsibility. Not in a vague sense, but in a very real way that you finish your commitment and then you come back to your house, you're with family and absolute normalcy in your house, and normal family life goes on.
"So, for me, that is absolutely a day of immense pleasure. I won't miss any opportunities to go out and spend time with my family whenever I can. I feel quite disappointed about that because it's like people who have no control over what's going on are brought into conversations and put out at the forefront of that 'oh, maybe they need to be kept away'".