India batter Virat Kohli introduced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing down the curtain on a glowing profession within the longest layout simply days after captain Rohit Sharma did the similar.
The 36-year-old’s determination comes the week after Rohit Sharma, who succeeded Kohli as skipper, additionally retired from the red-ball layout and a month ahead of India get started a five-match Test sequence in England.
“It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on. It’s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I’ll carry for life,” Kohli mentioned on Instagram.
“There’s something deeply personal about playing in whites. The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever.
“As I step clear of this layout, it isn’t simple – but it surely feels proper. I’ve given it the whole thing I had, and it is given me again so a lot more than I may’ve was hoping for.
“I’m strolling away with a center stuffed with gratitude – for the sport, for the folk I shared the sphere with, and for each unmarried one who made me really feel observed alongside the way in which.
“I’ll always look back at my Test career with a smile.”
Kohli scored 9,230 runs in 123 Tests to face fourth in India’s all-time listing of Test run-scorers.
He had already informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he wanted to retire from Test cricket forward of this summer season’s sequence in England.
It is known the 36-year-old informed leader selector Ajit Agarkar in April of his want to step away ahead of the beginning of the 2025-2027 World Test Championship cycle in June.
England vs India Test agenda
All video games at 11am UK and Ireland; all live to tell the tale Sky Sports
- First Test: Friday June 20-Tuesday June 24 – Headingley
- Second Test: Wednesday July 2-Sunday July 6 – Edgbaston
- Third Test: Thursday July 10-Monday July 14 – Lord’s
- Fourth Test: Wednesday July 23-Sunday July 27 – Emirates Old Trafford
- Fifth Test: Thursday July 31-Monday August 4 – The Kia Oval