Virat Kohli's retirement from Test cricket continues to be a raging topic of discussion in the cricketing world. While the popular belief is that the BCCI had set a deadline for the star batter as he struggled to end his lean patch in the format, leading to his retirement from Test cricket ahead of India's tour of England. Kohli's form over the last five years had not been impressive. He managed to score only 1,990 runs in 37 Tests, with three centuries.

However, former Australia cricketer and India coach Greg Chappell said it was not prolonged poor form that forced Kohli to quit the format, but a lack of mental clarity. Chappell also said that Kohli, 36, accepted that his fitness was declining, and his body was no longer in sync with his mind.

“His decision was not born of diminished skill, but from the growing realisation that he could no longer summon the mental clarity that had once made him so formidable. He accepted that, at the highest level, unless the mind is sharp and decisive, the body falters,” Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.

Chappell, who was the India coach from 2005 to 2007, said that a lack of mental clarity can affect decision-making and footwork at the crease. In Kohli’s final series in Australia from November to January, he was far from his best, scoring 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75. Of his eight dismissals, he lost his wicket seven times outside off stump. In the New Year Test in Sydney, Scott Boland dismissed Kohli both times.

“When doubt begins to settle in the bones, it disrupts decision-making, impairs footwork, and erodes the spontaneity essential to elite performance. Kohli's retirement is a reminder that form is more a function of the mind than it is of mechanics," Chappell wrote further.

Kohli retired from Test cricket as the fourth-highest run-getter for India, having scored 9,230 runs from 123 Tests at an average of 46.85. Kohli scored 30 centuries and 31 fifties. Due to his inability to break the prolonged lean patch, his Test average had taken a hit - from 54.97 in 2019 the average fell to 46.85 at the time of his retirement.

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