Mohammad Kaif has made a shocking revelation and revealed the likely reason behind Virat Kohli’s Test retirement. Kaif, the captain of the first India U-19 World Cup-winning team, opined that Kohli wasn’t happy with the environment and he thus decided to quit Test cricket.
The Indian legend announced a shocking Test retirement in May 2025. He played a Ranji Trophy game after returning from Australia, hinting that he wants to play Test cricket. But Kohli quit red-ball cricket before India’s next assignment.
“When I look at his interviews about this, I feel like there is some disappointment on his face. Even if his form was bad, you are talking about Virat Kohli. He has had bad phases in ODIs as well at times. It looks from his interviews that he was not happy with the environment,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“It seemed that he felt like he was not getting importance and backing and the people within had no faith in him. I still think if he would have continued, he would have definitely made a comeback. He is known for comebacks,” he added.
Kohli was only 770 runs away from the elusive 10000-run mark. He finished his Test career with 9230 runs in 123 Tests he played. His tally includes 30 centuries and 31 fifties. Kohli, who made his Test debut against West Indies in 2011, was dropped early in his career.
bounced back strongly and cemented his spot following his heroics against Australia in the 2011-12 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He replaced MS Dhoni as the Test captain in 2014. With 40 wins in 68 matches, Kohli finished as India’s most successful Test captain. In 2018-19, he became the first Asian captain to lead his team to a Test series win Down Under.
Rohit Sharma retired before Kohli
Rohit Sharma also played his last Test match in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and retired from red-ball cricket a week before him. He dropped himself from the playing XI for the last Test. Rohit and Kohli are now only active in ODIs.