Virat Kohli’s imperious ODI returns over the last two months have prompted several pundits to urge him to rethink his Test retirement. The 37-year-old quit the format after a prolonged poor patch in the 2024 season where he averaged under 25 across 19 innings.
Quitting the format with 9230 runs in May 2025, Kohli returned to the ODI rigours in October and fell for back-to-back ducks in Australia. However, the former India captain has gone on a tear since, scoring four successive fifty-plus scores in the format against the Aussies and South Africa. Turning up for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bengaluru, Kohli also struck a century and a fifty for Delhi in the tournament.
South Africa pace legend Allan Donald likens Kohli’s Test retirement to that of AB de Villiers, who quit the format at the height of his powers in 2018 at the age of 34. At the time of retirement, de Villiers was the Proteas fourth-highest run-scorer ever, averaging 50.66 with 22 centuries in 114 Tests. Donald, however, maintains Kohli is still the most favoured batter to reach close to Sachin Tendulkar’s batting records in international cricket, lamenting that he misses the Delhi batter’s presence in the longest format.
“If there is one batter who is going to get close to Sachin Tendulkar, it would be Virat Kohli. I don’t think I have ever seen a hunger in a player like Virat. I’ve got massive respect for him. He is just a machine. I actually miss him. I miss him in the Test match arena. I still think he’s almost like an AB (AB de Villiers). You think he’s retired too early. But, no doubt we will see him in the white-ball arena and in the 2027 World Cup as well,” Donald told ANI.
Kohli is back in action on Sunday as India take on New Zealand in a three-match ODI series before five T20Is in the lead up to the T20 World Cup.
