Indian veteran player Virat Kohli surprised the entire cricket world by announcing his retirement from Test cricket on 12 May 2025. He played 123 Test matches for India, scoring 9230 runs at an average of 46.85. Virat will now represent the Indian team only in the ODI format.
Delhi team coach Sarandeep Singh recently revealed that Virat had told him he would score 4-5 centuries in the England tour, as he did in 2018. This means that Virat has decided to retire from Tests suddenly, and everyone wants to know why he made such a decision.
Meanwhile, Indian football team legend Sunil Chhetri, who is a close friend of Kohli, recently made a big statement while talking about Virat’s decision to step down from the red-ball format.
Virat knows what he is doing- Sunil Chhetri
While talking to Star Sports, Sunil Chhetri said he was not surprised by Virat Kohli’s decision to retire from Test cricket. He said everyone knows how much Virat loves Test cricket, and it must have been very difficult for him to leave it.
“𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕, 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒕. 𝑬𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕. 𝑨𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒕, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌, 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 ‘𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒃𝒚𝒆’ 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
He did not retire because of his performance- Chhetri
After Virat Kohli‘s sudden decision to quit Test cricket, many people cite poor form as the reason behind it. But Sunil Chhetri cited family and personal life as the reason. He said,
“𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔 (𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝑷𝑳). 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝑪𝑩 𝒗𝒔 𝑪𝑺𝑲 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉, 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅,”
Also Read: BCCI Stop Virat Kohli’s Retirement Due to ‘Operation Sindoor’: Major Report Revealed