‘Virat will walk away’: Ravi Shastri predicts Virat Kohli won’t take coaching or commentary gigs after full retirement

Last week, when Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket, it meant that the 36-year-old will only play in the ODI format having retired from the T20I format last year post India’s T20 World Cup win. While it is yet to be seen whether Kohli could play in the 2027 World Cup to be held in South Africa, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri believes once Kohli is done playing cricket, he will walk away from the game and not take any coaching roles or commentary roles.

“He is still around to serve Indian cricket in ODIs, but I also know that Virat will walk away from the game once he is done playing cricket. He is not the kind who would like to coach or take on the role of a broadcaster. I will miss him when India plays its first Test in England. He was a champion, and that is what I would like to remember — never conceding an inch,” Shastri wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Kohli retired having played 123 Tests amassing 9230 runs. The 36-year-old announced his Test retirement months before India’s five Test tour to England. In the 28 tests played against England in his Test career, Kohli had scored 1951 runs including five hundreds and nine half-centuries. The Indian batsman had scored 1096 runs including two hundreds and five half-centuries against England in England in his career. After scoring 134 runs in five Tests in England in 2014, Kohli had scored 593 runs in five Tests including a century at Edgbaston and Trentbridge. Shastri recalled how Kohli had walked the ‘tightrope between restraint and radiance’ during that tour. “ Do you remember how he rebuilt himself for England? He must have doubted his credentials after the nightmare tour of 2014 (134 runs in five Tests). Four years later, he returned to conquer. He toyed with the English attack (593 runs in five Tests). On his way to that long-awaited century on English soil, he walked the tightrope between restraint and radiance at Edgbaston. He tamed James Anderson — England’s master of movement — not with swagger, but with patience. It was a masterclass in defensive batting. He assumed the stature of greatness on that tour,” added Shastri.

While the BCCI are yet to announce the Test captain for England Tour, Shastri was of the view that Kohli had two years of cricket left in him and it would have been a good idea to hand Kohli the captaincy for the England tour. “I am sure Virat still had two years of Test cricket left in him. I would have loved to see him in England this summer. It would have been a good idea to hand him the captaincy for the tour, but he would know best why he decided to leave. Maybe mental fatigue drove him to decide because he was as fit as any other player in the team. He knew his body best, but the mind would have played the decisive role. I will not rule out burnout as the decisive factor in curtailing his career at a critical phase of Indian cricket,” said Kohli.

Kohli remains the fourth highest run-getter for India in Tests behind (15,921 runs), (13,265 runs) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs). Talking about comparisons of Kohli with others, Shastri wrote about how he saw Kohli as somebody who ‘rewired how India played cricket’.

“I don’t like comparisons. I’ve been asked about Gavaskar and Tendulkar. I was lucky enough to share the dressing room with them. But I saw Virat from a different vantage — not just from the comfort of the broadcaster’s box, but through the suffocating pressure that only a dressing room can know. I saw him walk out not to play cricket, but to command it. To own the battlefield. In doing so, he didn’t just win games; he rewired how India played cricket,” added Shastri.

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