Published: May 12, 2025, 06:35 PM (IST)
Edited: May 12, 2025, 06:36 PM (IST)
Virat Kohli retiring from Test cricket is a great loss to the Indian team in the format, but his announcement was not completely surprising. Evidently, the attention “became too much” for the superstar as he approached the end of his career.
Virat Kohli was given the credit for single-handedly keeping Test cricket alive, as he showed exceptional commitment to the format. Even though he had an exciting challenge in front of him in the name of the five-match Test series in England, the journey had already ended for India’s most successful Test captain.
In a podcast with his IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru last week, Kohli gave an insight into his mind when asked about giving up India captaincy in T20s and Tests. His detailed conversation with the host also gave a sneak peak into what may have been on his mind before Monday’s announcement.
“At one point, it (attention) did become tough for me because there was just too much happening in my career. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years. I captained RCB for nine years. There were expectations on me from a batting perspective every game that I played,” said Kohli on ‘RCB Bold Diaries’ podcast.
“I didn’t have this sense that the attention was off me. If it wasn’t captaincy, it would be batting. I was exposed to it 24×7. It did get very tough on me, and it did get too much in the end,” he added.
“I stepped down (from captaincy) because I felt like if I’ve decided I want to be in this place, I need to be happy. I need to have a space in my life where I can just come and play my cricket without being judged, without being looked at as what are you going to do this season and what’s going to happen now,” Kohli said in that podcast.
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.
