Former India captain Kapil Dev has echoed what many Indian cricket fans have felt ever since Virat Kohli walked away from Test cricket — that the batting great retired earlier than he should have. Revisiting Kohli’s shock decision, Kapil said the former India skipper still had plenty of Test cricket left in him, while comparing his fiery on-field personality to tennis legend John McEnroe.
Kohli stunned the cricketing world in May last year when he announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing the curtain down on one of India’s greatest red-ball careers. The decision came with the former captain just 770 runs short of the coveted 10,000-run milestone in the format.
Looking back on Kohli’s retirement, Kapil admitted he was disappointed that the 37-year-old chose to step away when he still appeared capable of performing at the highest level.
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“It is not about 10,000 runs,” Kapil said on the SportsTak podcast. “I felt that if, for six months, he had not let himself get carried away by anger and had given himself another chance to play for India… because once you stop playing for India, you do not get that opportunity again. After that, you can only talk about it.”
Almost a year after his retirement, Kohli had explained the reasoning behind his decision earlier this year, hinting that he preferred stepping away rather than continuing in an environment where he constantly felt the need to prove himself despite everything he had already achieved.
Kapil, however, believes players should avoid taking career-defining decisions while dealing with disagreements involving selectors or team management. Drawing from Indian cricket’s past, he pointed to examples of senior cricketers who fought their way back into the side through strong domestic performances.
“When you are still playing, do not make such decisions or reactions in anger,” Kapil said.
“He must have had his own thought process, and rightly so, he can do that. But if we are sitting outside and looking at it, we feel that he still had time. If the selectors did not pick you, no problem. Give yourself some time. If the captain did not pick you, no problem. Work hard and score more runs, like Mohinder Amarnath, Anshuman Gaekwad and others did. They went back and scored runs in domestic cricket.”
Questions around Kohli’s Test future had been building for months amid a prolonged lean patch and the declining frequency of his centuries. The scrutiny intensified after India’s tour of Australia in 2024-25, where he struggled for consistency despite beginning the series with a century in Perth. Although Kohli returned to domestic cricket for a Ranji Trophy appearance after the tour, suggesting he remained committed to the format, he announced his retirement midway through IPL 2025, just before the Test squad for the England tour was selected. The announcement came less than a week after Rohit Sharma had also called time on his Test career.
Kapil believes Kohli still had the ability to succeed in red-ball cricket.
“Just as you are performing in the IPL, or if you play in other tournaments, you will come back because he still has the ability to play Test cricket. It is not as if he does not. Even now, if you look at him, he can play. But he took the decision, and I felt a little disappointed that he took it before his time.”
‘Kohli reminds me of John McEnroe’
Kapil also reflected on Kohli’s trademark aggression, saying it often reminded him of former tennis superstar John McEnroe, whose confrontational personality became an integral part of his success.
“The only thing that feels a little odd is that he becomes a bit too charged up,” Kapil observed. “But when I look at Virat, he reminds me of John McEnroe because, until he fought, he could not produce his best performances. I was not like that.”
Kapil contrasted Kohli’s fiery approach with the calmer demeanour of batting greats such as Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, who preferred to let their performances speak for themselves.
“There are some players in sport who thrive on challenges. That is why I took McEnroe’s name. He would always fight, whether it was with the referee. I could never do that. I was never capable of it. But it was nice to watch. You would think, ‘Look at the fire in him.’
“Even when you watch Virat, sometimes you feel he should calm down a little, take it easy. But perhaps he feels that bringing out that aggression makes his performance better. If it does, then why not?”