On Monday, Virat Kohli brought the curtains down on a glittering Test career when he announced his retirement from the longest format just ahead of India’s 5-match Test tour to England, set to begin next month. In a career spanning spanning 14 years and 123 Tests, the prolific batter will arguably go down as one of India’s finest in the format. With 9230 runs in 210 innings, Kohli stands fourth on the all-time charts among Indian batters, only behind the legendary trio of Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Rahul Dravid (13,265), and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122) with 9230 runs at a 46.85 average.
“It’s 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’s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I’ll carry for life,” Kohli wrote on his Instagram handle. He ended the posted with “#269, signing off”.
* made his Test debut for India on June 20, 2011 against the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica where he scored 4 and 15 in two innings with India winning the match by 63 runs.
* Kohli scored his maiden Test century in January 2012 against Australia at the Adelaide Oval where he played a knock of 116 runs. However, he couldn’t drag India over the line with the visitors losing the match by 298 runs.
* Kohli made his debut as India’s Test captain in 2014 against Australia in Adelaide and holds the record for leading India in most Test matches, captaining the team in 68 games. Under him, India won 40 matches, the highest by any Indian captain.
* Kohli’s highest Test score was an unbeaten 254 against South Africa in in 2019 which helped India win by an innings.
* In the 2014/15 season, he became only the 4th Indian batter to score a century in both innings of a Test with knocks of 115 and 141. This was against Australia in Adelaide which India lost by 48 runs.
* In the 2018–19 season, he led India to a historic 2-1 series victory over Australia, marking the team’s first-ever Test series win on Australian soil which ended a 71-year-long wait.
* India was the No.1 ranked Test team for 42 months when Virat was captain. At home, they remained unbeaten in a Test series under his captaincy and won 10 of the 11 series he led in. He also guided India to the ICC World Test Championship Final in 2019-21 cycle but lost to New Zealand.
* He had set a record as the Indian batter with the most number of double centuries in Test cricket, scoring seven in his illustrious career. He also holds the record for most Test runs as an Indian skipper with 5,864 runs in 68 matches (113 innings) at an average of 54.80, including 20 centuries and 18 fifties.
* His last Test was in the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2025 where he scored 25 and 6 against Australia as India lost the Border Gavaskar Trophy to the hosts.
