West Indies veteran all-rounder Andre Russell has given his opinion on Virat Kohli’s statement, in which Kohli expressed his love for Test cricket. After winning the IPL 2025 title, this star batsman of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had said that Test cricket is far above IPL for him, even though he has retired from the Test format.
However, Russell does not agree with this, and he also explained his reason behind it. He believes that Test cricket is beneficial only for the big Test-playing countries.
Andre Russell gave a big statement on Virat Kohli’s statement on Test cricket
Virat Kohli has been playing in the IPL with RCB since 2008, and in 2025, he finally led his team to its first trophy. On the occasion of winning the final after retiring from Test cricket, Kohli said,
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕. 𝑰 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕.”
Reacting to Kohli’s statement, Andre Russell said that Test cricket is more attractive for players from big cricket nations. The 37-year-old all-rounder has preferred franchise cricket for many years. Recently, during the T20 series against England, he returned to the West Indies team after about six months.
Speaking to The Guardian, Russell said,
“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂, 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂, 𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔? 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 50 𝒐𝒓 100 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
Russell said,
“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒑. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆-𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕. 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚? 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐. 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌.”
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