Test great Virat Kohli announced on Monday he had retired from the format.
This comes days before names its squad for a tour to England.
Kohli scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85. He peaked at an average of 55 between 2011 and 2019, with his test form falling to 23.56 in the past two years.
He is considered to be among the safest catchers and the fastest retrievers of the ball.
Rise to greatness
“King Kohli” also revolutionized the fitness culture in the India dressing room.
The batting legend made his debut in 2011 and struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out.
“It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in test cricket,” he posted on Instagram, adding that the format “tested, shaped and taught” him lessons for life.
Kohli said that deciding to step away from the format was not easy, but stressed that it felt right.
“I’ve given everything I had and it’s given me back so much more than I could’ve ever hoped for.”
Kohli, an inspirational figure to cricket fans in India, was the country’s most successful test captain with 40 wins and 17 defeats in 28 matches before stepping down from the role in 2022.
Global star retires
His retirement means test cricket’s biggest global star is leaving the stage, also leaving a vacuum that will be hard to fill.
The India legend has 271 million followers on Instagram and some 68 million on X.
He is married to Bollywood star Anushka Sharma.
Kohli’s popularity has been among the key factors behind cricket’s return to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles 2028, according to organizers.
International Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah paid tribute to Kohli, praising him for “setting an extraordinary example in discipline, fitness, and commitment.”
“Thank you for championing the purest format during the rise of T20 cricket,” Shah wrote.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah, Louis Oelofse
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