Former India star slams Virat Kohli; check reason

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has voiced strong dissatisfaction with Virat Kohli’s decision to step away from Test cricket, saying it is disappointing to see a player of Kohli’s calibre abandon the toughest format instead of confronting his shortcomings head-on.

Kohli, once a key member of the celebrated “Fab Four,” called time on his Test career last year following a difficult tour of Australia. During that series, he managed only 194 runs across 10 innings, continuing a prolonged lean phase that had stretched over several years. While Manjrekar understands the pressures of elite cricket, he believes Kohli’s choice to keep playing ODIs makes the decision even harder to accept, describing the 50-over format as the most comfortable for an established top-order batter.

According to Manjrekar, Kohli’s decline in Tests between 2020 and 2025 was marked by a sharp drop in consistency, including a near three-year wait for a century. He stressed that Kohli never fully addressed a long-standing technical flaw - his vulnerability to balls pitched outside the off stump. That weakness, Manjrekar argued, repeatedly led to dismissals and was especially exposed in Australia, where Kohli fell nine times to deliveries in that channel during his final Test series.

Manjrekar contrasted Kohli’s situation with that of his contemporaries Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, who have continued to thrive in Test cricket. Root recently brought up his 41st Test hundred and is steadily climbing the all-time run charts, while Smith remains a central figure in the demanding Ashes series. In Manjrekar’s view, it makes Kohli’s exit from the format feel premature when his peers are still pushing boundaries and enhancing their legacies.

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He also dismissed any suggestion that fitness played a role in Kohli’s retirement. On the contrary, Manjrekar believes Kohli’s exceptional physical condition should have enabled him to keep fighting for a comeback. He felt Kohli could have taken time away, played domestic or first-class cricket in challenging conditions such as Australia or England, or even accepted a temporary omission to rediscover form.

For Manjrekar, Test cricket remains the ultimate examination of a cricketer’s skill and character. Given Kohli’s ability, experience and fitness, he believes the former India captain had the tools to continue that battle - which is why his decision to walk away from Tests is, above all, a disappointment.