Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has voiced his disappointment regarding Virat Kohli's decision to retire from Test cricket, especially while his contemporaries from the celebrated 'Fab 4' continue to thrive in the longest format.
Manjrekar's Critique of Kohli's Test Exit
Manjrekar's comments came in the wake of batting masterclasses from England's Joe Root and Australia's Steve Smith during the Ashes. Root scored his 41st Test century on Day 1 of the fifth Ashes Test, drawing level with Ricky Ponting. Smith responded with his 37th Test ton a day later. This context led Manjrekar to reflect on Kohli's absence from the Test arena.
"Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli," Manjrekar stated on his Instagram handle. He expressed sadness that players like Root, Smith, and New Zealand's Kane Williamson are cementing their legacies in Test cricket while Kohli has walked away.
Manjrekar pointed specifically to Kohli's prolonged lean patch, where he averaged around 31 for the last five years of his Test career. "It's unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, he didn't quite put his heart and soul into finding out the problems," the former batter remarked.
The ODI Decision Adds to Disappointment
Manjrekar revealed that he would have been more understanding if Kohli had retired from all forms of cricket. What bothers him more is that the batting icon chose to continue playing One-Day Internationals. He labeled the 50-over format as "the easiest format" for a top-order batter, asserting that Test cricket and T20s present greater challenges.
"It was okay if Virat Kohli just walked away from cricket, retired from all cricket. But that he's chosen to play one-day cricket actually disappoints me more," Manjrekar elaborated.
A Question of Unfulfilled Potential
Highlighting Kohli's supreme fitness, Manjrekar suggested that the former captain had the physical capacity to fight his way back into Test form. He proposed that Kohli could have played first-class cricket in countries like England or Australia, or even in domestic Indian matches, to engineer a comeback after being left out of a series.
Kohli retired from Test cricket in May 2025 after a difficult tour of Australia where his technical flaws were exposed. Despite his late-career struggles, he finished with a commendable career average of 46.85 from 123 Tests. Meanwhile, Kane Williamson, after a near-year-long break from Tests, has also returned to action, keeping the 'Fab 4' narrative alive for everyone except Kohli in the red-ball format.
Manjrekar's comments have sparked a fresh debate about Kohli's legacy in Test cricket and the different paths chosen by the modern era's batting greats as they navigate the twilight of their careers.
