Kapil Dev rues Virat Kohli taking Test retirement ahead of 2nd ODI

Kapil Dev has expressed his view that Virat Kohli should have continued playing Test cricket for longer. The World Cup-winning captain believes Kohli possessed the ability to have extended his red-ball career beyond his May 2025 retirement, when he was just 770 runs short of the 10,000-run milestone in the format.

Kohli had already retired from T20I cricket after helping India win the T20 World Cup in 2024 under Rohit Sharma’s leadership. After his Test retirement in 2025, Kohli has only been playing ODI cricket for the national team, but his consistency has still been top-notch.

Dev opined that Kohli can break all the records if he maintains his fitness for the next few years. The former India all-rounder also wondered why Kohli retired from the longest format so early. Dev believes that the right-handed batter could regret the decision after a few years.

“The way he’s playing, he’s looking good. At this age, his fitness is the most important thing. And if he can keep himself fit for another two, three years, I think he can break all the records. And second, I feel sorry about him. He retired from a test match. I think, I don’t know why he did that,” Dev was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.

“He knows the best. But as a spectator, as a former cricketer, I feel he should have played more Test cricket also, because he has the ability. Absolutely. Yes, he should not. As somebody who likes his game and can assess the game, he has the ability. I don’t know he’s feeling bad today or not,” he added.

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Kohli recently played one of his finest ODI innings against the West Indies at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, scoring 139 not out off 88 balls. This was the first ODI in the three-match series. The third ODI will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday, September 29.

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