Before the England tour last year, the Indian squad had a lot to think about after two of its mainstays, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, announced their retirement from Test cricket in less than a week.
Days after Rohit made the startling revelation during the 2025 Indian Premier League, Kohli did the same. Fans were taken aback by Kohli’s decision, though, especially as the Indian team was scheduled to play a five-match series in England just after the IPL.
Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector for the BCCI at the time, was blamed for Kohli’s early retirement from the format as it was revealed that he might have influenced the former India captain’s choice.
Wasim Jaffer On Virat Kohli’s Test Retirement
Former India batter has now made a daring declaration about Kohli’s departure from Test cricket. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Jaffer claimed that Kohli was mistreated by the Agarkar-led selection panel and advised that he resign out of resentment.
“It felt like Virat was a bit bitter about the way he was treated. A player like Virat brings people to the ground. He has such a following. He definitely could have played more Test cricket. Till we hear it from Virat’s mouth, we won’t know. He was preparing for the England tour,” said Jaffer.
Kohli needed just 770 runs to reach the 10,000-run mark in Tests, which could have made him the fourth Indian after Gavaskar, and Rahul Dravid to accomplish the elusive feat. Five more tons would have made him the eighth person in the world to reach 35 Test hundreds. He finished two short of 125 Tests, which would have put him on par with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar in terms of matches played.
In his final series for India, which took place during the 2025 tour of Australia, Kohli scored just 190 in five Test matches at an average of 23.75.