Within weeks of each other in 2025, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — India's two greatest contemporary Test batsmen — announced their retirements from Test cricket, bringing a definitive close to one of international cricket's most celebrated batting partnerships.
The retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket in 2025 marked the end of an era in Indian cricket — arguably the most productive batting pairing the subcontinent had produced since Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid played together two decades earlier.
Rohit Sharma announced his Test retirement following a difficult Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where his form had come under sustained scrutiny. His decision, characteristically, was understated — a social media post without ceremony. But its impact was enormous: a decade-long Test career that had included some of Indian cricket's finest performances, including his Ashes-calibre innings and his undefeated World Test Championship campaigns.
Kohli's retirement followed within weeks. His announcement was characteristically more emotional — a longer statement acknowledging the format he had always described as his greatest love in cricket. His Test career — 9,000+ runs at an average above 47, match-winning centuries in England, Australia, and South Africa — represented one of the finest Test batting careers of any batsman who played post-2010.
The simultaneous departures of two of cricket's most prominent personalities prompted tributes from across the cricketing world — former opponents acknowledging the difficulty of facing them, former teammates recounting what their presence in the dressing room had meant, and administrators contemplating the commercial and competitive gap their absence would leave.
For India, the rebuilding challenge was profound: Kohli and Rohit between them had scored over 15,000 Test runs. Their replacements — Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, and others — were talented but unproven at the highest level of sustained Test consistency.
Rohit Sharma announces Test retirement — social media post, no ceremony
Kohli's retirement statement — longer, more emotional, acknowledges Test cricket as greatest love
Tributes from across the cricketing world
BCCI announces transition plan — young batsmen given opportunity
India's Test future without either player begins
“Test cricket is the purest form of the game and I've loved every moment of representing India in whites. It's time for the younger generation to carry this forward.”
“Test cricket has given me everything. My identity as a cricketer was built in the longest format. Retiring from it is the hardest thing I've had to do in my career.”
Both retirements were accepted by BCCI. India entered a significant transition period in Test cricket. The batting lineup's rearrangement became the central topic of Indian cricket discussion in 2025.
Australia vs West Indies
1960-12-14
The first tied Test in 86 years of cricket history — Australia and West Indies finished level on 737 runs each after five days of breathless cricket in Brisbane, producing one of the most dramatic finishes the game has ever seen.
India vs Australia
1986-09-22
Twenty-six years after Brisbane, cricket produced only its second tied Test — Dean Jones's heroic 210 through crippling heat and Dean Jones's fever, Ravi Shastri's unbeaten 48 and India needing 2 off the last over, only for Maninder Singh to be out lbw off the final ball.
Australia vs South Africa
1999-06-17
Lance Klusener smashed Australia to the brink of elimination, then ran out Allan Donald off the penultimate ball to tie the match — but Australia advanced to the final on superior run rate, ending South Africa's greatest World Cup campaign in devastating fashion.