Virat Kohli is done with Australia tour in his cricketing career

Virat Kohli is undoubtedly one of the best modern day batters across the three formats of the game and he has dominated even the best of bowlers in different conditions around the globe. Despite winning the T20 World Cup 2024 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in a gap of almost 10 months, Team India have not experienced the best of performances in the longest format of the game that includes the disappointing 0-3 series whitewash against New Zealand at home and the Border Gavaskar Trophy loss Down Under. Due to these couple of Test series losses, India failed to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final 2025. 

Virat Kohli hints at retirement after intense Australia tour

India's star batter Virat Kohli had a brilliant start during the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy five-match Test series in Australia as he racked up a fabulous hundred in the second innings of the opening Test match at The Gabba. However, things did not pan out really well for both Kohli and the visiting Indian cricket team in the best manner during the remainder of the Test series as they suffered a disappointing 1-3 defeat. On the other hand, despite scoring an impressive century in the first Test match, Kohli ended up scoring just 190 runs from 9 innings at a poor average of less than 25. 

Team India tours Australia for the traditional Border Gavaskar Trophy after every four years and currently, at the agae of 36 years old, it will surely be really difficult for Virat Kohli to be part of the Test side for another series Down Under. During a recent event, the star Indian batter talked about the struggles he experienced during the recent Australia tour and even compared it with the horror 2014 England Test series where he managed to score only 134 runs across 10 innings. 

“If you ask me the intensity of how disappointed I've been, the most recent Australia tour would be the one that's most fresh. So it might feel the most intense to me. For a long time, the tour of England in 2014 bothered me the most. But I can't look at it that way. I might not have an Australia tour again in four years. I don't know. You have to make peace with whatever's happened in your life. In 2014, I still had the chance to go in 2018 and do what I did. It might not have been the case. It might have been another blunder. But it didn't turn out that way," stated Virat Kohli while speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit.

“Because I got a good score in the first Test. I thought, right, 'let's go.' There's going to be another big series for me. It didn't turn out that way. For me, it's just about the acceptance of, 'okay fine, this is what happened. I'm going to be honest with myself. 'Where do I want to go? What are my energy levels like?' I'm not sitting here in 48 hours or 72 hours-time to make a decision like 'let me go.' Spend time with family. Just sit down. Let everything calm down. And see how I feel in a few days,” he added. 

Virat Kohli has experienced a rough patch in the longer format of the game having composed a total of 673 runs from as many as 19 innings at an average of 24.5 that includes just a single century and fifty. This below-par performance has raised massive questions regarding his Test cricket future and many of the cricket experts have even started talking about the star batter taking retirement from the longest format of the game. While talking about overall Virat Kohli stats in Test cricket, the right-hander has scored a phenomenal tally of 9230 runs from a total of 123 Test matches at an average of 46.85 that includes as many as 31 half-centuries and 30 hundreds. 

India is scheduled to tour England later this year after the conclusion of Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) for a five-match Test series. It will be a really important assignment for Virat Kohli and his future in Test cricket as things can turn out to be in a really interesting manner. On the other hand, with Rohit Sharma opting out of the fifth and final Test match against Australia due to below-par batting performances, it is still uncertain as to who will be India captain during the India vs England five-match Test series. Also, there is no clear update on speedster Jasprit Bumrah's fitness and availability for the England tour.