India, Sept. 29 -- Think about Virat Kohli's final months as a Test cricketer for a moment. The runs had dried up; Australia had exposed the same weakness repeatedly during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and although there was that magnificent hundred in Perth, precious little followed. By May 2025, Kohli had decided that 123 Tests were enough and walked away from the format he had spent years championing.

Straightforward decline followed by retirement? Mohammad Kaif is not convinced. There is another possibility, he believes: perhaps Kohli did not merely feel that his batting had reached a crossroads, but also that the people around him were no longer quite as convinced about Virat Kohli as Virat Kohli remained about himself.

"When I look...