Former Indian coach shares his ‘Shock’ at Virat Kohli for his sudden Test retirement

Former Indian batting coach R Sridhar has said that he was left shocked over Virat Kohli suddenly announcing his retirement from Test cricket. Sridhar has also stated that he was lucky enough to have been in the national side when Kohli had the captaincy of India in the longest format of the game between 2015 to 2021.

In an Instagram post on Monday (May 12), Kohli had announced that he will be retiring from Test cricket, which marked an end to his 14-year long career of 9230 runs in 123 matches, accompanied by 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries.

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“Who can forget that famous quote which he said at the Lords, ‘Let’s give them 60 hours of hell’. I am shell-shocked at the sudden announcement of Test retirement by Virat Kohli to be very honest, ” said Sridhar in a video posted on Coaching Beyond’s Instagram account on Wednesday.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be there entirely throughout his captaincy tenure, and what I saw was nothing but passion, persistence, the will to win, the honesty and the fearlessness with which he took Indian cricket forward,” he added.

Virat Kohli had struggled to consistently perform in Test cricket, as it was evident from him making making only 190 runs in nine innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, in which India lost the series 3-1. Sridhar further stated that Kohli retiring from the format is a great loss for the team, especially since they have a five-match tour coming ahead.

“About his captaincy, I think his intensity, his aggression and his ability to use fast bowlers to great effect. Since he took over the captaincy in 2015, I’m very grateful that I was witnessing it from close quarters. The way he changed the culture with fitness and fielding, the way he changed the culture – going with five bowlers and the batters taking a lot of responsibility – and he did it himself time and again,” he said

“Thereafter, India has never looked back as a Test-playing nation. Learning what the young cricketers had while he was there in the change room is something that cannot be substituted with anything. So I think it’s a huge loss for Indian cricket with him not being around. I am shocked. I hope his legacy lives on forever,” he concluded.

There was once a time when Virat Kohli used to perform magnificently with the bat. Kohli used to be known as the ‘Real King’ in Test format. He played a total of 84 matches and scored 7202 runs during this time. He has played at an average of 54.97 and also scored 27 centuries. Even though Virat Kohli was once the king of the red-ball format, his performance declined since 2020. He played 39 Test matches since 2020, and his average fell down to 30.72. He also only scored three centuries.

Throughout his career, Virat Kohli played 123 Test matches for India, and scored 9230 runs. His average is of 46.83, and his performance has seen a steep fall in the past few years. Kohli has managed to score only 1990 runs in 37 matches that he player in the last 5 years.