Virat Kohli had no regrets about Test retirement: Ravi Shastri

Star India batter Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement on Monday, May 12. The move stunned the cricketing fraternity worldwide as the 36-year-old has been extremely vocal about his love for the longest format of the game. Kohli also previously mentioned of his dream of scoring 10000 runs in Test cricket. However, he fell 730 runs short of the total, having scored 9270 runs in 123 matches.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who shares a close relationship with Kohli, noted that the decision was well-thought-out and added that the cricketer had no regrets. Shastri added that there’s plenty of cricket left in Kohli and he wants to give everything in the ODI format, in which, the Delhi-born had the majority of his success in his career. Shastri also lauded the cricketer for giving his everything to Test cricket.

“I did speak to him about it [his



announcement], I think a week before that and his mind was very clear that he'd given us everything. There were no regrets. There were one or two questions I asked, and that's a personal conversation which, you know, he mentioned very clearly, there were no doubts in his mind, which made me think, 'Yes, the time is right'. The mind has told his body that it's time to go,” Shastri said on The ICC Review.

“He doesn't have regrets. Ideally, everyone might want [him] to carry on. But then, he looks at the bigger picture. He feels he can contribute massive in the one-day game. There's a lot of franchise cricket left for him in his life. The reason I think he will not have regrets is because he gave his everything,” he added.

Kohli, meanwhile, is India’s most successful Test captain of all time. He has led the team in 68 Tests and won 40 of them.