Virat Kohli, one of Indian cricket\u2019s most iconic figures, has announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing an era of passion, dominance, and transformation in red-ball cricket to a close. The 36-year-old not only changed the way India played the longest format, but also redefined what it meant to lead the country in whites.<\/p>\n
Kohli\u2019s leadership in Tests is widely regarded as the most impactful in Indian cricket history. Taking charge in 2014, Kohli led India in 68 Tests<\/strong>, winning 40 of them<\/strong> \u2014 the most by any Indian captain \u2014 at a win percentage of 58.82%<\/strong>. Under his watch, India:<\/p>\n Won a historic Test series in Australia<\/strong> (2018\u201319) \u2014 a first for India<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Registered memorable Test wins in England and South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Held the No. 1 ICC Test ranking<\/strong> for 42 consecutive months<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Built a pace-dominant, ultra-fit, and aggressive Test team<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Kohli stepped down as Test captain in 2022. While Rohit Sharma showed promise as a red-ball leader with 12 wins in 24 Tests (50% win rate), he too retired this week \u2014 leaving Kohli\u2019s benchmark near untouchable for future leaders.<\/p>\n Kohli\u2019s Test batting numbers speak for themselves:<\/p>\n 123 Tests<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 9,230 runs<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Average: 49.29<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 30 centuries<\/strong>, 29 fifties<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 7 double centuries<\/strong> \u2014 most by an Indian batter in Tests<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n His last double ton (254*) came against South Africa in 2019 in Pune. He broke the record held by legends like Sachin Tendulkar<\/strong> and Virender Sehwag<\/strong> for most double centuries in Tests for India.<\/p>\n Only batter to score four double-centuries in four consecutive series<\/strong> \u2014 surpassing Don Bradman and Rahul Dravid<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Most Test centuries as Indian captain<\/strong>: 20 (next best is Sunil Gavaskar with 11)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Most Test runs as Indian captain<\/strong>: 5,864 runs in 68 matches Kohli\u2019s success wasn\u2019t just in home conditions \u2014 his centuries came across SENA nations, making him one of India\u2019s best all-condition Test players.<\/p>\n More than records, it was Kohli\u2019s hunger, intensity, and relentless drive that inspired a generation. He made Test cricket \u201ccool\u201d again, demanding peak fitness, playing with emotion, and never backing down \u2014 whether at Lord\u2019s, MCG, or Eden Gardens.<\/p>\n As India now looks to build a new red-ball era, Kohli\u2019s standards \u2014 as both a batter and leader \u2014 will remain the benchmark. His retirement is not just the end of a career, but the closure of a defining chapter in Indian cricket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Virat Kohli, one of Indian cricket\u2019s most iconic figures, has announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing an era of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":31710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Kohli the batsman: rewriting record books<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Historic milestones:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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(MS Dhoni follows with 3,454, Gavaskar with 3,449)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nLegacy beyond numbers<\/strong><\/h4>\n