Virat Kohli retirement in Test Cricket as a Captain in 2022

On January 15, 2022, Virat Kohli’s post on Instagram took everyone by shock and surprise. He made his retirement in test cricket as a test captain.

Every cricket lover had gone into a dilemma because of Kohli’s retirement as test captain. 

So, this decision is taken straight after the loss against South Africa in the test series. In the third and final test match against South Africa, India lost the series. Because of their poor batting performance.

If India had won then they would have created history. As South Africa had not lost any test series against India. But due to top order failure and even middle-order collapse made India short of runs. 

Eventually, South Africa won the test match by 7 wickets. After the loss Indians were upset and disheartened.

Subsequently, another news blew Indians into a blunder. As it was Indian Player Virat Kohli stepped down as a test captain.

So, India’s most talented batsmen Virat Kohli retirement from Test cricket is a great sorrow for his fans.

Virat Kohli Achievements as Test Captain

He is one of the finest captains in test cricket. Even he was most successful in leading the country both in and away from the country.

So, here are some of the achievements of Virat Kohli in Test cricket.

Made India rank No. 1 in Test Cricket

After the Dhoni era, Virat Kohli took charge as a Test Captain in 2014. During that time, India was on the bottom line in the terms of ranking. As India in 2014 was ranked 7th position.

After that, Virat captaincy had never looked back. Thereafter India made recorded wins. From ranking 7 to becoming the number 1 test squad in international cricket. 

So, Virat Kohli and his team managed to bring India to the top position in the Test format.

But still, no one can believe his retirement in Test cricket as a test captain.

Successful Test Captain Virat Kohli

There is no doubt, that Virat Kohli is one of the best and successful captains of India. His winning percentage as a captain is 58.82%. 

So, he made a remarkable contribution to the test as a captain. Even he made 20 centuries as a test captain. He is one of the first players to make this record.

Won Test series against Australia

Virat Kohli team lot of records in the test format. Even winning over Australia on Australian soil is the most remarkable achievement from team India.

India had never won the series against Australia. But under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India manages to reach the milestone.

Win against South Africa at Centurion

Virat Kohli captaincy made another world-class record in the test history. As India became the first Asian country to beat South Africa in Centurion.

Again India made a record by winning against South Africa by 113. Where KL Rahul’s excellent century and Indian bowlers tremendous performance made India reach another milestone.

Most wins out of India

Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India was way too stronger and boosted by his attitude. So, India was able to record 16 wins away from India.

Most consecutive wins in India

After becoming India test captain in 2014 after MS Dhoni, Virat was the most favorite test-winning captain of all times. As India under his captaincy won 11 test series in a streak.

In this way, these are all his achievements as an Indian Test Captian. But still have a concise reason for Virat Kohli retirement.

Reasons for Virat Kohli Retirement

Virat Kohli retirement as a test captain is a big shock to all cricket lovers. Not only in the test but now Virat Kohli had stepped down as a captain in t20, ODI, and IPL as well.

So, there is a lot of confusion about his setback as a captain. Especially, in tests, Virat Kohli was exceptional as a both captain and a player.

But for the past two years, Virat Kohli had not shown his class in his batting. Even he could not turn his small knock to big in recent times. 

Virat Kohli is known for his aggressive and attacking batting ability. But now Virat Kohli was not able to hit singly ton from past two years. Apart from his century in 2019 against Bangladesh, become his last century till now.

So, his inconsistency in batting is mainly because of captaincy pressure and responsibility. Hence, he might quit as a captain to regain his class and form towards his batting. This might be one of the reasons for Virat Kohli retirement as a test captain.

Even the relationship between BCCI and Virat Kohli is not good and fair. Because Virat Kohli and BCCI did not give support to his view.

There is also speculation that Virat Kohli had insisted on Shikar Dhawan’s name in T20 2021. But eventually, Shikhar Dhawan did not opt-in to the squad. So, this was the initial point where the relationship between Virat and BCCI had taken another turn.

Thereafter Virat Kohli announced that it was the last tourney (t20 world cup 2021) in t20 as a captain.  Subsequently, BCCI had declared that Virat Kohli will be not functioning as an ODI captain for Team India.

So, these pieces of evidence prove that the BCCI and Virat Kohli relationship is a bitter one. Even in the South Africa tourney, Virat Kohli did not make it to the post-match presentation to avoid questions regarding his captaincy.

Now, Rohit Sharma might take charge as captain in all three formats. But even KL Rahul might share the captaincy in T20 or ODI. So there is no clear or concise decision has come into effect.

However, Virat Kohli is one of the best players that India had as a captain. His contribution in all the formats is phenomenal. Even he is one of the leading run-scorer for India.

As of now, he made 70 century( ODI and Test) so he is a bit close to breaking the Sachin Tendulkar master class. Virat Kohli retirement in Test Cricket as a captain is a big loss.

So, let us wish to have a more bright future in his career.