Former India batter Manoj Tiwary has reignited the debate around Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket, claiming that the star batter was “forced” into stepping away from the longest format.

Kohli announced his Test retirement just ahead of India’s tour of England in 2025, but the decision continues to divide opinion, with several former cricketers and experts urging him to reconsider and make a comeback. Speaking to InsideSport, Tiwary strongly pushed back against Sanjay Manjrekar’s assertion that Kohli quit the “hardest format” to prolong his career in the “easiest” one-day format.

“I don’t agree with him at all. He was forced. An atmosphere was created where he had no option but to say goodbye to Test cricket,” Tiwary said. “Virat Kohli is not someone who would walk away on his own. Yes, the decision came from him officially, but everyone knows what happened behind the scenes. After knowing all that, how can anyone say he left Tests just to score runs in ODIs? I completely disagree.”

Meanwhile, Kohli was recently dethroned from the top spot in the ICC men’s ODI batting rankings after New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell produced back-to-back centuries in the series against India. Mitchell’s performances powered New Zealand to a 2-1 series win and lifted him to No. 1 with 845 rating points, while Kohli slipped to second with 795 points.

The two are well ahead of the rest of the field, which includes Ibrahim Zadran, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Babar Azam. This marks the second time Mitchell has topped the ODI rankings, although his previous stint lasted just three days last November before Rohit Sharma overtook him.

Mitchell now has four ODI centuries against India, just one shy of AB de Villiers’ record of five by a South African batter. His consecutive scores of over 130 also drew him level with Martin Guptill for the most such knocks by a New Zealander in ODIs, underlining his rapid rise to the top of the ODI batting rankings.

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