Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket feels off. He always considered Test cricket the highest level of the game and aimed to score over 10,000 runs. So, it’s surprising he’s stepping away when he’s so close to that goal. He finished with 9,230 runs in 123 matches, averaging 46.85, with 30 hundreds and 31 fifties. So, what’s going on with Kohli? Why did he decide to end his Test career so soon? Let’s look at a few reasons that might explain this tough choice.
- Kohli’s form since late 2019: Since November 2019, Kohli’s performance in Tests hasn’t been great. He hasn’t scored a century since a fantastic 136 against Bangladesh in 2019. That was a turning point for him. At that time, he had a solid average of 54.97 and was on his way to 10,000 runs. But in the following 39 Tests, he only got 2,028 runs at an average of 30.72, with just three more centuries. Those numbers weren’t encouraging, and struggling against a weak Australia team might have been the last straw for him.
- His comments during the Australia tour: Kohli started the Australian tour well with a century in Perth, but after that, things went downhill. He kept getting out trying to play balls outside off-stump, and it became a trend. After facing the same issues over and over, he reportedly told his teammates, I am done, hinting he was thinking about retiring from Test cricket.
- New World Test Championship cycle: The upcoming England tour kicks off a new cycle of the World Test Championship, which lasts two years. If Kohli was already considering stepping back, it might have made sense for him to retire before this new cycle began. This way, a new player can step in and settle in without being thrown into the middle of the action.