Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary has questioned Virat Kohli's Test retirement, saying that the star player was forced to take this decision.

 

On May 12, 2025, India's batting stalwart Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the longest format of the game through his official social media account. He took this decision after India's poor performance in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

 

Tiwary Drops Surprising Claim On Kohli's Retirement

 

In an interview with InsideSport, Manoj Tiwary claimed that Virat Kohli was pushed into retiring from Test Cricket after a difficult atmosphere was created around him.

 

He said:

 

"Usko majboor kiya gya tha. Mere observation se, meri jo soch hain, he was forced. An atmosphere was created such that he had to say goodbye to Test cricket. Kyunki he is not the one jo khud se bolega ki main chhor dunga. Haa, decision usne apne juban se lia hain. Lekin yeh behind the scenes ka jo story hain woh sabko pata hain yaar. Sabko pata hain kya hua hain. Toh sab kuchh jaan ne ke baad aap kaise bol sakte ho ki usne hardest format ko chhor ke easiest format ko lia sirf apne runs banane ke liye. I don’t agree with him. (He was forced. An atmosphere was created such that he had to say goodbye to Test cricket. Everyone knows what happened behind the scenes. After knowing everything, how can you say that he left the hardest format and is playing the easiest one for his own runs).”

 

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Virat Kohli's Stats in Test Cricket

 

Virat Kohli started his Test career against West Indies on June 30, 2011. He played 123 Tests, scoring 9230 runs in 210 innings at an average of 46.85 and a strike rate of 55.57. During his Test career, he smashed 30 hundreds and 31 fifties for India. 

 

The star batter played his final Test match on January 3, 2025, against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In first-class cricket, Kohli featured in 156 matches, scoring 11,485 runs in 259 innings at an average of 48.05 and a strike rate of 55.95.