Dinesh Karthik, the coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has provided insight into Virat Kohli’s life since he announced his retirement from Test cricket, saying that the former captain has been at his happiest since making the historic decision.
According to Karthik, the RCB players and support staff were just as shocked as the rest of the world when Kohli announced on May 12, implying that the star batsman had kept the decision to himself. As per reports, Kohli had told the BCCI of his intention to retire from Test cricket a few weeks before the public announcement, but that the board’s top brass had been keen to convince him to travel to England.India is set to tour England for a five-match Test series. They will be without Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who also retired from Test cricket earlier in May. This series will mark the beginning of their new World Test Championship cycle.Dinesh Karthik told the media ahead of RCB’s penultimate game against SunRisers Hyderabad in Lucknow that after stepping away from two formats at the international level, Kohli is now eager to spend more time with his family.”It came as a shock to the outside world, so we were just observing what Virat was up to. He is at his happiest now – he’s enjoying the sport, and he genuinely wants to spend more time with his family,” said Karthik.”It’s a personal decision, and we respect it. Like everyone else, we were taken aback – ‘Oh, this is happening.’ But the fact is, it’s great to see him happy and ready whenever we want him to play. The key is to keep him in good spirits,” he added.Virat Kohli said in his passionate farewell statement that although he believed the timing was right, resigning from Test cricket was a difficult decision. Given Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format, it was generally anticipated that he would go with the Test team.With 9,230 runs in 123 games, Kohli ended his Test career. He solidified his position as one of the best Test leaders in the history of the game by leading India in 68 Test matches and winning 40 of them. Kohli intends to finish his international career on a great note at the 2027 ODI World Cup and will continue to play one-day internationals. Following India’s successful World Cup campaign in Barbados last year, Rohit and Kohli both announced their retirement from T20 international play.