'There's nothing wrong with...': Kapil Dev's 1983 World Cup-winning star urges Virat Kohli to relinquish retirement and return to Test cricket

Former India all-rounder Madan Lal, who was a part of Kapil Dev-led side's 1983 World Cup winning team, wants to see Virat Kohli don the whites once again, even after the latter announced his retirement from Test cricket. Kohli announced his Test retirement on May 12, during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

Speaking at CricketPredicta, Madan Lal said that there is nothing wrong with returning and if he doesn't want to come in this series and make a comeback in the next Test assignment.

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"Virat Kohli's passion for Indian cricket was unmatched. It's my wish that he should come back to Test cricket after retirement," said Madan Lal.

"There's nothing wrong with returning. If not in this series, he should make a comeback in the next," he added.

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Kohli's Test retirement came before the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, and there were talks that the former cricketer was forced to retire, but BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla turned down all the suggestions and stated that the BCCI have a strict policy of not telling any player when to retire.

"I want to make it very clear once and for all. We all feel Rohit and Virat's absence, but they took the decision on their own. BCCI has a policy of never telling any player when to retire and from which format. This is on the player. This was their own decision. They took retirement on their own. We will always miss them. We consider them great batters. The good thing is they are available in ODIs," said Shuka in an interaction with ANI.

Kohli's last Test outing came in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, where he managed to score just 190 runs in five Tests. Kohli has represented India in Tests for 14 years and included 123 Tests, 68 of them as captain, in which he scored 9230 runs at an average of 46.85.