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New Delhi: Star India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed Virat Kohli’s decision to step away from Test cricket while continuing in ODIs, admitting it bothers him to see contemporaries like Joe Root and Steve Smith still piling on runs as Kohli chose to “walk away” instead of addressing his struggles.
The 37-year-old star batter retired from Test cricket last year following a disappointing series in Australia, where he managed to score only 194 runs across 10 innings, more than half of which came in a single knock in Perth. The call stunned many, especially given Kohli’s well-known passion for the red-ball format.
Despite being part of the Fab Four and widely regarded as one of the finest Test cricketer in the modern era, Kohli retired from the format with 9,230 runs from 123 matches at an average of 46.85. He fell short of the 10,000-run mark in Tests, a milestone he had once set as a personal goal. While Kohli continues to deliver runs in ODIs, Manjrekar remains critical of the decision to place one-day cricket above Test cricket.
“Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He’s walked away from Tests, and it’s unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, that he didn’t quite put his heart and soul into finding out the problems as to why he was averaging 31 for five years in Tests. That is for another time as to what he could have done. But I just feel sad that people like Joe Root and Steve Smith, Kane Williamson are really making a name for themselves in Test Cricket,” Manjrekar said on his Instagram handle.
“It was okay, 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, because this is a format which for a top-order batter, I’ve said before as well, is the easiest format.”
Between 2020 and 2025, Kohli’s struggles in Test cricket became evident. After averaging around 50 across formats before the Covid-19 pandemic, his numbers dipped sharply, and he went nearly three years without scoring a century. What bothers Manjrekar the most is that Kohli never worked on his weakness against deliveries outside the off stump, repeatedly falling to them, including all nine of his dismissals in his final series in Australia.
Once seen as the leader of the Fab Four, Kohli lost momentum and was unable to find his way back, even as Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson continue to dominate Test cricket with big runs and landmark centuries. Root has just brought up his 41st Test hundred and is closing in on Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record, while Smith keeps grinding it out in the ongoing Ashes.
Kohli is in his strongest format, ODIs, having recently scored 302 runs in three matches against South Africa and an unbeaten 74 in Australia earlier.
“The format that really tests you is first, obviously, Test Cricket, and T20 cricket has its different challenges. The other thing is because he’s so fit, supremely fit, you feel even more that he could have maybe continued his fight, you know, to get back into form, even if he was left out of a series, he could have maybe gone down to first-class cricket, played in Australia, England, more matches in India, tried to make another comeback,” added Manjrekar.
“That could have made me truly happy. Obviously, that’s his call, his choice. But yeah, when Joe Root gets hundreds or gets runs, or Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, my mind goes to Virat Kohli with a sense of disappointment and a little bit of sadness, because he cared so much for Test Cricket, didn’t he?”
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