“For someone like Virat…” - Kane Williamson opens up on Virat Kohli’s Test retirement

In May 2025, the Indian talismanic batter Virat Kohli stunned the cricketing world by announcing his Test retirement ahead of the England tour after playing 123 matches and amassing 9230 runs in the longest format of the game.

For the majority of his career, Kohli was part of the Fab Four, which also included Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root. Speaking on Kohli’s sudden retirement, Kane stated it was so special to see Kohli retiring on his own terms, though he was taken aback by the decision.

"You never really consider it and you do see some of your opponents and mates making some of these decisions and you think 'gosh, it has been a while', and you're not getting younger," Williamson told The Independent.

"It's a reality at some stage. For someone like Virat, who made that decision to go out on his own terms and do what he's done for the game, that's amazing. That's so special," he added.

"Everyone was caught by surprise because you feel like it will never happen, but it does. I'm more aware of that than most - and that's great," said Williamson.

It’s important to note that Kohli also stepped away from the shortest format of the game in international cricket after the successful completion of the T20 World Cup in June 2024. However, it’s yet to be known if he takes part in the ICC ODI World Cup, scheduled to take place in 2027.

After the retirements of Kohli and Rohit Sharma in Test cricket, the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar was quick to announce Shubman Gill as the new Indian Test captain and he propelled India to a series-levelled 2-2 scoreline in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, emerging as the leading run-scorer in the five-match series with 754 runs from 10 innings.

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