NEW DELHI:India’s most successful Test captain and the fulcrum of its batting for over a decade, Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the format on Monday, ending his passionate love affair with the five-day game which celebrated him as its saviour during a global T20 surge.

The 36-year-old Kohli, who admitted that it wasn’t an easy call to make, turned up in 123 Tests for India, scoring 9230 runs with 30 hundreds and 31 half centuries at an average of 46.85.

He will now only be seen in ODIs, having already retired from T20 Internationals last year after having a significant role in India’s T20 World Cup win in the Caribbean.