India star batter Virat Kohli shocked the cricketing world when he recently announced his retirement from Test cricket. The modern-day great called time on his career in red-ball cricket after playing in 123 Tests and scoring a total of 9,230 runs. He also maintained a brilliant average of 46.85 in the format.
This sudden decision also left former India cricketer Virender Sehwag in splits as he believed that Kohli could have 'comfortably' played Test cricket for two more years due to his exceptional fitness routine. He added that the 36-year-old is still capable of leaving behind 90% of today's players when it comes to fitness.
“His hunger for runs is what makes him different, sets him apart. He follows his routine, his hard work, whether or not he’s making runs," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
“He will leave 90% of players behind in fitness even at 36 years old. I would say because of that, he retired too early in Tests, he could comfortably have played 2 more years,” Sehwag added.
Kohli's retirement from the longest format came after a string of poor performances in the series against New Zealand and Australia. India suffered a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of the Black Caps at home and Kohli finished the series with just 93 runs under his belt in six innings.
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Though the batting great did score a sensational century against Australia in the first Test at the Optus stadium in Perth, his form ended up declining badly as he was only able to put up 85 runs in his next seven innings in the Border-Gavaskar series.
Virat Kohli's fantastic performance in IPL 2025
While Kohli may have retired from the Test format, he continues to perform exceptionally well with the bat for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the ongoing season of IPL. The 36-year-old has scored 505 runs in 11 matches and is currently the fourth-highest scorer in the tournament, maintaining an excellent average of 63.12.
He is a major reason why the Bengaluru-based franchise is on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs and is also currently on top of the IPL standings with 17 points from 12 matches.