ENG vs IND 2025: 'Would have told Virat Kohli to retire after England tour' - Dilip Vengsarkar

Virat Kohli took the cricket fraternity by surprise when he announced his retirement from Test cricket midway through the Indian Premier League (IPL).

By Adreej Kumar Mitra

Updated - 12 Aug 2025, 11:33 IST

2 Min Read

Virat Kohli took the cricket fraternity by surprise when he announced his retirement from Test cricket midway through the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Delhi batter took to social media on May 12 and made his decision to bid farewell to his favourite format public. This announcement came just a few days after Rohit Sharma decided to retire from the longest format of the game.

India travelled to England with a fairly inexperienced side led by a young captain in Shubman Gill. The Punjab batter did well as a captain as well as a leader, guiding India to a 2-2 draw against Ben Stokes and Co. in the United Kingdom.

However, former India chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said that had he been in the selection committee, he would have asked Kohli to postpone his retirement decision till the end of the England series. The former India captain feels that Kohli's class and experience would have come in handy in English conditions.

"If I were the Indian chief selector, I would have persuaded Virat to bid goodbye to Test cricket after playing the England series. We needed his class and experience in this series," Vengsarkar told The Times of India.

Kohli has had mixed returns in England during his Test career. His problems outside the off-stump came to prominence on his first red-ball tour of England in 2014. While he disappointed on that tour, he bounced back commendably in 2018, aggregating 655 runs as captain. However, he struggled during the 2021-22 visit, which included the World Test Championship final.

Sunil Gavaskar slams ECB over trophy ceremony
Also Read

Sunil Gavaskar slams ECB over trophy ceremony

Overall, Kohli has played 17 Tests in England, scoring 1096 runs at an average of 33.21. He has registered five half-centuries and two centuries, including a highest score of 149, which he scored at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the first Test in 2018. Having retired from Tests and T20Is, Kohli's next appearance in international cricket is expected to come in October when India travel to Australia to play three ODIs.

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store