Virat Kohli, even after achieving huge success in the Indian Premier League as a batter over the years, has still managed to keep himself relevant in the modern era of the game. The right-handed batter shocked many when he announced his retirement from tests in 2025. However, former Indian teammate, Ravichandran Ashwin believes that bidding farewell to the longest format has helped the 37-year-old. The off-spinner talked about how retiring from test cricket helped Virat in improving his batting performances in the shortest format.
Notably, Kohli with RCB won his first IPL title in 2025. Despite being from an era where batting with a solid technique was preferred over hard-hitting batting, Kohli was one of the top performers in the season. Ashwin claims that retiring from test cricket has allowed the decorated batter to achieve higher level of success in IPL.
Test retirement the mantra for IPL success for Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli’s retirement from test cricket has allowed him to improve his batting performance in the IPL, according to Ravichandran Ashwin. Kohli announced his retirement from the longest format on the 12th of May in 2025. The right-handed batter was experiencing a dip in form in red-ball cricket, leading him to bid farewell to the format.
However, since then, Kohli has achieved great success in ODIs and the IPL. He won the IPL 2025 title with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. In ODIs, he is adding hundreds to his tally and is eying the 100 international century milestone and overtaking his idol, Sachin Tendulkar.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s bombshell claim on Virat Kohli
Former Indian teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, while speaking on JioStar, talked about how test retirement has helped Virat Kohli. He talked about how, while playing test cricket, he would have hints of test batting technique while playing for RCB as well.
Ashwin said, “Virat was still playing Test cricket in 2024; he was very still, the bat wouldn’t move much.” Notably, Virat scored 741 runs at a strike rate of 154 in 2024. His numbers in the previous few years were not that great. From 2020 to 2023, Kohli scored 1,851 runs at a strike rate of 125.57.
The former Indian spinner further said, “But now, here in 2026, the bat is down initially and later he brings it up, which we call potential energy, or the constant movement of the bat, and he is getting into lovely positions. In 2024, his head was so still that even the movement of his feet was balanced, because he was still playing Test cricket then, in 2026, since he doesn’t play Test cricket anymore, he doesn’t have to control his hands as much and is letting them go, going for more shots.”
Irfan Pathan agrees with Ravichandran Ashwin’s claim on Virat Kohli
While agreeing to Ashwin’s statement, Irfan Pathan, appearing on the show, talked about how the change in the backlift has allowed him to generate more power. Pathan specifically talked about how the momentum gained from backlift has played a huge role in Kohli’s improving his IPL record.
“Because of that backlift, he is getting that momentum, more power, and that is why the strike rate has gone up, when you are standing still in the prelude, before the bowler bowls, you don’t get the momentum that you want to create to go for big shots, but when you bring the bat down, then up again, you already have that momentum,” Pathan said.
Notably, since 2025, Kohli has scored 754 runs in the IPL for RCB in 17 innings. He is striking at a rate of 147.8 while averaging 58 per dismissal. The increase in his batting performance has led to RCB finding success in the tournament and winning their first trophy in 2025.
