Virat Kohli Retirement: Former Indian captain Virat Kohli surprised the cricket world by saying goodbye to the Test format through an Instagram post on May 12. King Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies in 2011 and played his last Test against Australia in January 2025.
In the last 14 years, the right-handed star batsman has played 123 Test matches, in which he has scored 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85. During his tenure as a Test cricketer, he scored 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries.
Fans were hopeful that Kohli would continue to play in this format for a few more years, but after Rohit Sharma retired from Tests, he also announced his retirement. You will be surprised to know that there are many Indian players who made their Test debut before Kohli, but have not yet announced their retirement. In this article, we are going to tell you about 3 such Indian players.
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma has been an important part of the Indian Test team, which dominated on foreign soil under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. This right-arm fast bowler has played a total of 105 Test matches, taking 311 wickets. During this, he has been successful in taking five-wicket haul 11 times and 10-wicket haul (in the match) once.
Ishant started his Test career in the year 2008 against Australia. He played his last Test match against New Zealand in November 2021. He has not returned to the team since then.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Another experienced Indian cricketer included in this list is Cheteshwar Pujara. Like Ishant Sharma, Pujara has played an important role in leading India to victory on foreign soil many times during the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Pujara has played 103 Test matches for India so far. He has scored 7,195 runs, including three double centuries, 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries.
Congratulations Virat on a Test career you can be incredibly proud of! Your passion for the format was inspiring…and it was an honour to share the crease with you over the years, in the heat of many-a-battle, grinding it out for the country! Will cherish the several memories… pic.twitter.com/0Qp9vofOPn
— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) May 12, 2025
Pujara played his first Test match in 2010 against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. His last match was the WTC final against Australia in England in 2023. Pujara has started working as a commentator but is still active in red-ball tournaments.
Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat has played just four Tests so far, but he made his Test debut before Virat Kohli. Unadkat got his first Test cap in 2010 ahead of the match against South Africa at SuperSport Park.
The left-arm pacer did not impress much in his debut match and soon lost his place in the team. After years of hard work, Unadkat finally returned to the Indian Test team for the series against Bangladesh in late 2022.
Unadkat also played in the Test series against West Indies in 2023. Unadkat made his Test debut before Virat and has not retired yet, but he never got a chance to play Test under Virat’s captaincy.
