India, Jan. 27 -- The whispers about Virat Kohli's Test comeback have started again. A brilliant run in the ODIs, a nostalgic clip here and there, and the social media quickly turns into a storyline: Virat Kohli, back in whites in 2026. But Test cricket doesn't reward storylines. It rewards evidence, repetition and scrutiny - and a late-career return would put the end of Kohli's Test arc back under the harshest light, with far more to lose than gain.

Kohli's legacy is already sealed in whites. He didn't step away from Tests with unfinished business. He left with 9,230 runs in 123 Tests, including 30 centuries and 31 fifties - numbers that place him firmly among India's greatest red-ball batters. His captaincy record is even more defining...