Virat Kohli RETIRES from Test cricket as Indian legend ends glittering career in the longest form of the game 'with a heart full of gratitude'

Indian fable Virat Kohli has announced his status from Test cricket, pursuing successful the way of team-mate and chap erstwhile skipper Rohit Sharma, a period earlier his side's five-match bid successful England. 

Former skipper Kohli is regarded arsenic 1 of the champion batters his country, and the world, has ever produced scoring 9230 runs for India successful the longest signifier of the crippled from 123 matches.

Ending his Test vocation with an mean of 46.85, helium managed 30 centuries and 31 fifties earlier bringing his clip to a close. 

While his vocation ends astatine the extremity of a pugnacious spell with the bat pursuing inconsistency successful the middle, Kohli was known arsenic 1 of the astir destructive red-ball batters successful the game.

'It's been 14 years since I archetypal wore the baggy bluish successful Test cricket,' the 36-year-old posted connected societal media. 

'Honestly, I ne'er imagined the travel this format would instrumentality maine on. It's tested me, shaped me, and taught maine lessons I'll transportation for life.

'There's thing profoundly idiosyncratic astir playing successful whites. The quiescent grind, the agelong days, the tiny moments that nary 1 sees but that enactment with you forever. 

'As I measurement distant from this format, it's not casual – but it feels right. I've fixed it everything I had, and it's fixed maine backmost truthful overmuch much than I could've hoped for.

'I'm walking distant with a bosom afloat of gratitude – for the game, for the radical I shared the tract with, and for each azygous idiosyncratic who made maine consciousness seen on the way. I'll ever look backmost astatine my Test vocation with a smile.'

As captain, Kohli steered India to a agelong stint arsenic satellite No 1, and secured their archetypal ever distant bid triumph successful Australia, and was thought to beryllium a immense fig successful driving fittingness standards wrong Indian cricket. 

In presumption of winning numbers, Kohli's 40 victories from 68 Tests marque him 1 of his countries astir palmy skippers of each time, and his 20 tons marque him the astir prolific centurion starring the side. 

In fact, lone Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh won much matches arsenic skipper successful the past of the game. 

Aside from the statistics, Kohli is known arsenic 1 of the bigger personalities successful cricket, ne'er acold from the bosom of the action, adjacent without a bat successful hand, playing the crippled with a ferocious strength and competitiveness.  

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