Virat Kohli has refused to come out of Test retirement to play for India. With the national team struggling in the longest format of the game, there was speculation that the veteran batter might take the field again to help the young players, but the 37-year-old refuted all the stories of his comeback. He announced his retirement just before the Test series against England in 2025.

During an event in New Delhi on Sunday, he was asked about his chances of donning the white jersey again. Kohli said that he is done with the format and there will be no comeback. “I am done with it. Thank you,” Virat said.

Meanwhile, the right-handed batter has been named in the squad for the three-match ODI series in England next month, but his availability is subject to fitness clearance.

Kohli, who is currently in Delhi, will head to the  Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru on Monday for a fitness assessment.

He injured his hamstring during the IPL 2026 final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Gujarat Titans on May 31 and missed the ODI assignment against Afghanistan at home.

The support staff of the CoE had visited England to check on Kohli’s recovery. He was replaced by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a hundred in the third and final ODI in Chennai. However, the youngster was dropped from the team after Kohli’s return.

According to the standard practice followed by the national selectors, a replacement is not considered for the selection when the first-choice player makes a comeback after recovering from injury.

“The team management will not experiment much in the ODI series against England, with Virat Kohli batting at No.3 and Shubman Gill returning to open the innings with Rohit Sharma.

Indian squad for England ODI series

Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Gurnoor Brar.