Virat Kohli has retired from Test cricket. Yes, read again and if it still feels unbelievable, go to Instagram, search @virat.kohli and read the 148-word statement to start digesting that the greatest Indian Test captain will not be seen in whites anymore. He even tried his hand at domestic cricket after more than a decade to be absolutely sure and it seems like he was done. "It's not easy, but it feels right," Kohli mentioned in his emotional yet carefully-worded statement.
Kohli at his best was a giver in Test cricket. He gave his everything with the bat, in the field and as a captain when he wore that baggy blue. Scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries, it was a Test career in two halves. An average of 30.72 since 2020 doesn't justify the best Kohli was in Tests in 2011-2019. Kohli hit a peak that very few in the world would be able to, let alone India.
Despite hollow returns in series against New Zealand and Australia, it felt like Kohli still had a lot to give to Test cricket and Indian cricket in red-ball cricket but that was that. Like many, Kevin Pietersen and Harbhajan Singh too couldn't believe what Kohli just announced. It felt like a personal loss for fans and several cricketers alike. A look at some of the reactions-
Kohli retired from T20 cricket last year after the T20 World Cup triumph, but will keep continuing to play in ODIs, maybe that World Cup dream is still alive and seeing Kohli run, play, hop and skip, 2027 shouldn't be impossible. The greatest Indian Test captain, Kohli has the most number of double centuries as captain in the world, the most runs by an Indian captain in the format, the most centuries by an Indian captain and the list can go on and on. It will be a void, which would be difficult to fill in the near future, especially with the England series hanging like a sword.