On the 12th of May 2025, Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli announced that he was retiring from Test cricket. Kohli, who is 36 years old, retired from international T20 cricket after winning the 2024 World Cup, at which he was named player of the match in the final. He is expected to continue playing One Day International cricket for his nation but he will now be able to focus more on his family and possibly franchise cricket too.
Kohli may well be the greatest all-formats batter in history. He is the holder of various records in the three different formats and is the only player to have surpassed 900 ranking points in Tests, ODIs and T20. That demonstrates his incredible versatility, range of shots and dedication to the sport. He has been a huge part of India’s success over the past 17 years since making his ODI debut in 2008. His cross-format excellence is perfectly illustrated by the fact that at the 2020 ICC Awards of the Decade, he was named in all three Teams of the Decade, including as skipper for the 2011-2020 Test side. Given his recent announcement, we will focus on his career in the longest format of the game here.
Test Debut
From a young age it became apparent that Kohli, born in Delhi in 1988, was going to be an exceptional player. By 2008 he was a key part of the India U19 team that won the 50-over World Cup and he scored 235 runs, averaging 47. He made his debut for the full ODI team that year but had to wait until June 2022 to be called up to the Test side. The 269th player to appear in a Test for India, his first game came against the West Indies in Kingston. It was an inauspicious start for the youngster and he made just four in his first innings and 15 in the second.
Indeed, it took the future great some time to settle into Test match cricket and he was dismissed for a silver duck in his third innings. His first half-century in the format came later that year as the West Indies came to India. He amassed 52 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and then backed that up with 63 in the second innings when batting down at six. That India line-up may be one of the greatest batting line-ups of all time, with legends Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman at three, four and five, and MS Dhoni coming in after Kohli. Despite all those big names, however, it was Kohli who top-scored and his innings was crucial in securing India a draw.
First Ton and Early Career
The Delhi native first made it to three figures in Tests in his 14th innings. He scored a fine century away in Adelaide before scores of 22, 58 and then another hundred, this time against New Zealand (103). He was now beginning to establish himself as a player of the finest calibre, his century in Adelaide moving him into the top 50 batters in the ICC rankings.
By March the following year, and after earlier back-to-back centuries against England and Australia, he moved into the top 20 for the first time. His trajectory was clearly heading one way and just under a year on from that, in February 2014, he moved into the top 10. That was partly thanks to consecutive scores of 119 and 96 away against South Africa, Kohli further establishing himself as a player capable of scoring runs in any conditions, against any attack.
That summer saw his first tricky period, though, as he struggled in England in very swing- and seam-friendly conditions. In 10 innings he made double figures just three times with a high score of 39. What followed was one of his greatest series though, as he put Australia to the sword Down Under, registering scores of 115, 141, 19, 1, 169, 54, 147 and 46. Four centuries helped him average an impressive 86.5 as he racked up nearly 700 runs in the four-match series.
Era of Greatness
He made his first double hundred in July 2016, against the West Indies, recording another later that year against NZ. At the end of 2016, he well and truly cemented himself amongst the modern greats with a stunning performance on home soil against England. He avenged his poor performances in England by making 40, 49 not out, 67, 81, 62, six not out, 235 and 15.
India won the five-Test series 4-0 as Kohli averaged over 109, scoring 655 runs, 164 than the next best (Joe Root). He moved into the top five in the world rankings and consistent performances through 2017 and 2018 finally took him to the number one spot. It was a fine tour of England that took him there, with two hundreds, a 97 and four other scores of 46+, proving a brilliant comeback after his previous visit.
His ranking score peaked at 937, the best ever by an Indian batter. His brilliance was sustained too as he held onto top spot for more than a year before Steve Smith overtook him as his standards slipped a little.
Slow Drift Down
Alongside Root, Smith and Kiwi Kane Williamson, Kohli is held up as one of the four greats of modern batting. All four have enjoyed success across all formats but age catches up with even the best, and by the end of August 2021 perhaps India’s greatest player ever had dropped out of the top five in the ICC standings. Over the past five years he has undoubtedly dropped his level but even so, he retires from Test cricket with huge credit, many records and some incredible stats.
Kohli Stats and Facts
Below we can see a summary of some of Kohli’s incredible stats that give us an overview of the glittering Test career he enjoyed.
- 123 Tests, 210 innings, 9,230 runs (fourth best by an Indian)
- Average 46.85, SR 55.37
- Average 55.58 in India
- Highest score – 254 not out (v South Africa in Pune in 2019)
- 30 centuries (including seven scores of 200+), 31 half-centuries
- More double hundreds than any active player and joint-fourth overall
- Averaged 75+ in 2016 and 2017, 55 in 2018 and 68 in 2019
- Captained India 68 times (national record) between 2014 and 2022, averaging almost 55
- Win rate as skipper was 58.82%, the best by any Indian
- Most centuries by Indian captain (20, Sunil Gavaskar is next with 11)