Virat Kohli, 36, retired from Test cricket on May 12. If he had played 1-2 years, he would have become India's third top scorer in this format by scoring 10,000 runs, but Virat didn't care about the record.
Virat was the fourth top scorer for India. Among the top 5 Test scorers in the country, Kohli retired the earliest. After the age of 36, Sachin Tendulkar scored 9 more Test centuries. He played for 40 years, but Virat did not spend his long time in this format.
Let's know 4 things in the story …
- 5 major reasons for Virat's retirement
- The early retirement of the Top 5 Indians
- Three Indians also retired at a young age
- 5 Records that missed the Virat break
1. 5 reasons for Virat's retirement
1. Lost his peak form in the test
Virat Kohli scored his 27th Test century in 2019. The second year, the Corona virus came, the matches started to decline and Kohli lost its peak form. By 2019, he scored 7202 runs at an average of about 55. In the next 5 years, he was able to score only 2028 runs at an average of 31 in 39 Tests. In the meantime, only 3 centuries came out of his bat.
Piches for bowling after Corona also played a major role in Kohli's bad form. After the epidemic, Kohli has scored runs in 37 Tests at an average of 32.09, which was very common according to its standards. However, in the meantime, the average of the top 7 batsmen around the world was only 29.87. In addition to Kohli, the average of the other top 7 batsmen of Team India was 31.15. This means that Kohli has been competing with the world's top batters in the last 5 years.
Kohli was also seen in bad form in the last 3 series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia. He was only able to score a fifty and a century. He played his last Test against Australia in Sydney from January 3 to 5 and retired in May.
2. The strict policy of the main coach Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir was made the new main coach of Team India in August 2024. Upon becoming a coach, he made a statement that he wanted to end Team India's star culture. He believed that fans and management should be focused on the team's victory than the player's record.
After Gambhir's entry, the BCCI imposed restrictions on staying with families for a long journey. Former captain Rohit Sharma and some senior players of the team seemed angry with the decision. After becoming a serious coach, the team lost the series against New Zealand at home and on their field against Australia. After that, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had to retire.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir.
3. The influence of Rohit Sharma
Team India's ODI captain Rohit Sharma retired from the Test on May 7. Within 5 days, Virat Kohli again said goodbye to Red Ball Cricket. This is not the first time both players have retired from a format together.
On June 29, 2024, when India won the T20 World Cup, the Player of the final Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the T20 in the Presentation Ceremony. Shortly after that, Rohit Sharma also celebrated the victory and said goodbye to the short format. This means that Rohit's Test retirement somehow pushed Kohli to retire.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from T20 on the same day.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired the test within 5 days.
4. In Australia were indicated
India traveled to Australia for the Test series between November and January, where they lost 3-1. Kohli scored a century in the first match, after which he felt that he had regained his form. However, in the next 7 innings of 4 Tests, Virat was caught in a slip on the ball outside the stump every time. He could not score a single Fifty and finished the series with 190 runs.
After the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Kohli said he was losing his form in this format. According to a toi report, he then told his fellow player that he did not see himself making more progress in this format. Kohli then retired in May.
See Kohli's display in BGT 2024-25 in Graphics …
5. Looking for a chance to give young players a chance
The World Test Championship (WTC), which began in 2019, is also a major reason for Kohli's retirement. Because Team India's 5 Test matches will start in England from June 20. This is India's first series in the 2027 WTC, from here to reach the final of Team India.
Kohli has said in several interviews that if he feels that he cannot contribute to the team, he will retire. They may have realized that in order to prepare the young team, it is important that only new teams have a chance in WTC. Because under his captaincy, he has twice delivered Team India to the WTC final. When Kohli was not a captain, the team could not qualify for the title match. In such a case, it is possible that Kohli has retired in view of the team's future.
Under Kohli's captaincy, Team India was the No.1 Test team for 42 months. He also delivered the team to the WTC final twice.
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Virat Kohli finished fourth in India's top 5 Test run scorer. Kohli was just 770 runs away from 10,000 runs, if he had scored 893 more runs, he would have become the third top scorer in the country. Now Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar are the only Indian left with 10,000 runs in the Test.
Apart from Kohli, when India retired the top 5 runs, he was 38 years or older. Gavaskar retired at the age of 38, Dravid at the age of 39 and Laxman at the age of 38. Sachin played until the age of 40, not only, he scored 9 Test centuries after the age of 36. In such a case, it is natural to raise the question whether Kohli retired the Test 2-3 years ago.
3. Retired Indians at a young age
Kohli is not the first Indian to retire at a young age. Ravi Shastri retired from Test cricket at the age of 31 and MS Dhoni at 33. Suresh Raina, the first player to score a century in all three formats for India, also retired at the age of 34. Dhoni played 90, Shastri 80 and Raina played 18 Tests.
4. Virat missed the 5 record breaking
- 10 thousand runs: Virat completed his Test career with 9230 runs in 123 Tests. He was just 770 runs away from 10,000 runs. If he had set this record, he would have become the third Indian to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs and Tests. This record is only in the name of Sachin and Dravid.
- Top Indian Scorer in England: Virat Kohli also missed the record of scoring the highest runs for India in England. He played 17 Tests in English condition and scored 1096 runs, in this regard, he was fourth. Sachin Tendulkar is at number 1 with 1575 runs. Dravid finished second and Gavaskar was third.
- Indian to win the highest test: Virat Kohli won 62 out of 123 Tests. He would have become India's most successful Test cricket winner with 11 more wins. Sachin Tendulkar was just ahead of that, who won 72 in 200 Tests.
- India's top scorer in winning: In the presence of Virat, India won 62 Tests, scoring 4746 runs. If Virat had scored 1201 more in the team's victory, he would have become the highest scorer in the win. Sachin finished at the top with 5946 runs.
- India's Top Run Scorer in WTC: If Virat had scored 100 more runs, he would have become the highest scorer for India in the World Test Championship. In this case, he would have broken Rohit Sharma's record, named 2716 runs. Rishabh Pant can make this record in his own name on England tour, with 2252 runs.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).