Star India batter Virat Kohli shocked the world when he announced his retirement from Tests in May 2025. The right-hander called time on his Test career, having played 123 Tests in which he scored 9230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 centuries. The decision to walk away from the longest format raised eyebrows as India are all set to tour England for an all-important five-Test series. Kohli has been out-of-form in the longest format for the last few years, but many felt India needed his experience in the UK.
Former Australia batter Greg Chappell feels Kohli retired from Tests due to the toll the game has taken on him mentally. He feels the 36-year-old decided to walk away because he had lost the mental clarity required to succeed at the highest level.
Over the last five years, Kohli scored just four Test centuries, and his dismal form resulted in his average falling from 55 to almost 46. The former India captain averaged just a tad above 30 in the longest format of the game.
“Kohli, once the embodiment of intensity and technical assurance, recently stepped away from Test cricket. His decision was not born of diminished skill, but from the growing realisation that he could no longer summon the mental clarity that had once made him so formidable. He accepted that, at the highest level, unless the mind is sharp and decisive, the body falters,” Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.
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“When doubt begins to settle in the bones, it disrupts decision-making, impairs footwork, and erodes the spontaneity essential to elite performance. Kohli’s retirement is a reminder that form is more a function of the mind than it is of mechanics,” Chapell added.
Kohli’s horrendous run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Virat Kohli last represented India in whites in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, where Rohit Sharma and co lost 1-3.
Kohli started the series well with a century in the Perth Test. However, after the ton in the series opener, it all went downhill for the star batter, who finished with just 190 runs in 9 innings.
All of his eight dismissals happened in a similar fashion as he kept nicking deliveries bowled well outside of his off-stump. Kohli’s numbers in the series would have looked all the more abysmal had he not scored a century in Perth.
Kohli then also played the Ranji Trophy match for Delhi against Railways, following the BCCI’s diktat. With him turning up for domestic cricket, everyone expected Kohli to board the flight to the UK for the five-match series against England.
However, just days ahead of the squad announcement, Kohli called time on his Test career. Days before Kohli’s decision, even Rohit Sharma had retired from Test cricket. Now India will be without their two most senior batters in the longest format of the game.
