BCCI shares emotional montage of Virat Kohli’s Test career as he retires ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 series [Watch]
The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) recently shared an emotional montage of Virat Kohli's Test career. Ahead of the Test series against England, the star batter announced his retirement from the format.
"The idea was to play Test cricket for India and that was always the goal. This is the highest level. The thing that excited me about Test cricket was the challenge. Good at this level is not good enough. Test cricket is the hardest. You have to embrace it, you have enjoy it," he can be heard saying in the video.
The video consists of several clips of Virat Kohli batting against various opponents at various venues in Test cricket, sharing some of the most special moments from his career in the format.
"For me, it's always been I want the result first. The motivation is I want to play for as long as possible for my team," he says in the video.
"Inspiring intensity 👏 Incredible icon ❤️ The Former #TeamIndia Captain gave it all to Test Cricket 🙌 Thank you for the memories in whites, Virat Kohli 🫡#ViratKohli | @virat.kohli," the Indian cricket team handle captioned the video.
Kohli's last Test series was the recent one against Australia, with his last Test being the final Test of the series in Sydney.
Virat Kohli - India's most successful Test captain
Featuring in 123 Tests, Virat Kohli scored 9,230 runs with 30 hundreds and 31 half-centuries. He also led the Indian team in 68 Tests, taking over from MS Dhoni midway through the 2014 Test series in Australia.
Out of these 68 Tests, India managed to win 40, giving Kohli a win percentage of 58.82%, which is the most by an Indian captain in the format. Moreover, India won 16 out of 36 Tests away from home under Kohli's captaincy, which is the most wins away from home by an Indian captain.
Kohli also led India to massive wins in Australia, England, and South Africa, building a reputation of a team that could win away from home as well in difficult and challenging conditions.
While he retires as one of the best batters in the format, Kohli also walks away as India's most successful captain in Test cricket.