After 14 years and 123 Test matches, Indian cricket bids farewell to an icon as Virat Kohli formally announces his retirement from the longest format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rumors of Kohli\u2019s impending exit first surfaced last week amid reports that the BCCI was attempting to persuade the former captain to continue. Today, however, Kohli took to Instagram to confirm that he will immediately step away from red-ball cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It\u2019s 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\u2019s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I\u2019ll carry for life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As I step away from this format, it\u2019s not easy \u2014 but it feels right. I\u2019ve given it everything I had, and it\u2019s given me back so much more than I could\u2019ve hoped for.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019m walking away with a heart full of gratitude \u2014 for the game, for the people I shared the field with, and for every single person who made me feel seen along the way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019ll always look back at my Test career with a smile.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kohli closes his Test career with 9,230 runs, including 30 centuries, cementing his status as India\u2019s most successful Test captain. Over 68 matches at the helm, his side won 40 games, and under his leadership, India emerged as a dominant force in SENA nations for the first time. Notably, in 2018, Kohli guided India to its maiden Test series victory in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between 2015 and 2021, India was the sport\u2019s most formidable home team, claiming 24 wins and suffering just two defeats, triumphing in every bilateral series played on home soil.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After 14 years and 123 Test matches, Indian cricket bids farewell to an icon as Virat Kohli formally announces his retirement from the longest format. Rumors of Kohli\u2019s impending exit first surfaced last week amid reports that the BCCI was attempting to persuade the former captain to continue. Today, however, Kohli took to Instagram to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}