Virat Kohli, on Monday, May 12, shocked everyone by deciding to pull the curtains down on a glittering 14-year-long Test career. With India all set to tour England in June, there was news about Kohli leading the team as a stop-gap arrangement following the retirement of Rohit Sharma a couple of days back. Kohli’s retirement means that the Sydney Test against Australia is his last. In his last test series, Kohli scored 190 runs in 9 innings across 5 Tests. With Kohli having now retired from T20Is and Tests, his sole focus remains ODI cricket
Here’s how cricketing world reacted to Kohli’s retirement news
Virat Kohli’s Test Career Highlights
Total Matches & Runs:
Kohli featured in 123 Test matches, scoring a total of 9,230 runs, making him India’s fourth-highest run-scorer in the format.
Caps & Longevity:
With 123 appearances, Kohli is the seventh most-capped Indian player in Test history.
Centuries & Half-Centuries:
Across his 14-year career, he notched up 30 Test centuries (4th most by an Indian) and 31 fifties.
Dominance Across Opponents:
He played Tests against seven different nations and managed to score over 1,000 runs against five of them. His most prolific performances came against Australia, scoring 2,232 runs in 30 Tests, which included 9 centuries and 5 fifties.
Kohli’s peak form came in 2018, where he scored 1,322 runs in 13 Tests (24 innings). This performance earned him the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award. He also surpassed 1,000 Test runs in both 2016 and 2017, underlining his consistency.
Captaincy Record:
Kohli played under five different captains but himself led India in 68 Test matches, securing 40 wins—making him India’s most successful Test captain.
Historic Series Win:
He led India to a landmark Test series victory in Australia (2018-19)—the country’s first-ever series win Down Under.
Double Century Record:
As Test captain, Kohli holds the record for the most double centuries by an Indian in the role, scoring seven.
