Virat Kohli retires: Stats and milestones of a 14-year Test career

Virat Kohli announced retirement from Test cricket on Monday, bringing curtains down on a 14-year career in the whites. The decision to retire comes before India's five-Test tour of England that begins on June 20 at Headingley. It will mark the beginning of next cycle in the World Test Championship.

Virat Kohli's retirement comes not long after his long time-teammate Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the whites. It means India will go into the next WTC cycle with a fresh batting order and two of its most experienced leaders in a decade.

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In his 14-year Test career, which began with a debut against West Indies at Kingston in June 2011, Kohli scored 9230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85 with 30 centuries and 31 fifties.




He also bows out as India's India's most successful Test captain ever, having won 40 out of 68 Tests with the armband.

Between 2016 and 2019, Virat experienced one of his most prolific periods in Test cricket, amassing 4,208 runs in 43 matches at an impressive average of 66.79. During this stretch, he scored 16 centuries and 10 fifties in 69 innings, cementing his status as one of the sport’s leading ambassadors in the format.

Also See: Virat Kohli Test Retirement

The 2020s, however, have been less remarkable for the superstar batter. He has scored only 2,028 runs in 39 Tests, with a modest average of 30.72, including just three centuries and nine fifties in 69 innings.



His form saw a slight resurgence in 2023, when he scored 671 runs across eight Tests at an average of 55.91, with two centuries and two fifties in 12 innings.

Last year, his performance dipped again, totaling just 382 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 22.47, with one century and one fifty in 19 innings.

His most recent Test appearance was during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia from November to January, where he scored 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75, highlighted by a century at Perth — the first since July 2023, when he hit a century against the West Indies at Port of Spain.

Additionally, he has yet to score a home century since his 2023 knock against Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad.

Virat Kohli stats in Test cricket

• Matches: 123
• Innings: 210
• Runs: 9230
• Highest score: 254*
• Average: 46.85
• Strike Rate: 55.57
• 100s: 30
• 50s: 31

Virat Kohli milestones in Test cricket

9230 - 19th among most runs in a Test career

68 - Sixth most matches as Test captain after Graeme Smith (109), Allan Border (93), Stephen Fleming (80), Ricky Ponting (77), Clive Lloyd (74)

692 runs - Kohli scored 692 runs in the India tour of Australia in 2014-15. It is the 40th most in Test history

1322 - Kohli produced 1322 runs during the 2018 calendar year. The most were scored by Mohammed Yousuf (1788 in 2006)

2 - Kohli had the second-most double hundreds in a series (India vs Sri Lanka in 2017-18)

4 - Kohli had the second-most hundreds in a series (India in Australia in 2014-15)