Batting superstar Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, May 12. The 36-year-old cricketer from Delhi took to Instagram to share a photo post via which he confirmed his decision to move away from the five-day format of the game. Kohli made his Test debut for India on June 20, 2011, against the West Indies in Kingston and, during his 14-year-long career, played 123 matches and, with the help of 30 centuries and 31 fifties, scored 9230 runs. During his illustrious career, Kohli played as a No. 4 batter in 98 Tests and amassed a total of 7564 runs in 160 innings. He succeeded legendary Sachin Tendulkar as India’s No. 4 Test batter in 2013, and it will be interesting to see who fills the void left by him now in the red-ball format. With India set to travel to England next month for a five-match Test series starting June 20 in Leeds, it will be interesting to see India’s performance in the post-Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma era. Here’s a look at five players who can replace Virat Kohli as India’s No. 4 batter in Test cricket: KL Rahul: KL Rahul has played 58 Test matches for India, and after Rohit and Kohli’s retirement, he will be India’s most capped batter in Test series against England. The 33-year-old cricketer from Karnataka has batted at No. 4 in only one Test so far, and in the first innings of that fixture against England at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad last year, he scored 86 runs. Rahul has achieved so much success in ODIs for India as a middle-order batter, and after Kohli’s retirement, he could take the new role once again and provide stability to India’s middle order. Shubman Gill: Shubman Gill is a top-order batter for India in all three formats of the game. The 25-year-old cricketer from Punjab has never batted at No. 4 in Test cricket, but keeping the future in mind, he can take the new challenge and be India’s new No. 4 Test batter – a position which was previously associated with the likes of Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Shreyas Iyer: Shreyas Iyer is one of India’s best No. 4 ODI batters of all time, and after Kohli’s retirement from Tests, selectors and Indian team management could look up to him as a No. 4 batter for India in Tests as well. In his last Test for India against England in Visakhapatnam last year, the 30-year-old right-handed batter from Mumbai batted at No. 4 for the first time and scored 27 and 29 runs. Karun Nair: Karun Nair was in red-hot form for Vidarbha in the 2024-25 domestic season and in all likelihood will be part of the England Test series as well. The 33-year-old right-handed batter has played 114 First Class matches as a middle-order batter and has been backed by the likes of Anil Kumble to take the vacant No. 4 position in the Indian Test side. Sarfaraz Khan: Sarfaraz Khan is a middle-order batter from Mumbai who has played six Test matches for India since making his debut against England in Rajkot on February 15, 2024. The 27-year-old right-handed batter scored 150 runs as a No. 4 batter for India in the second innings of the Test match played against New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru last year. He is unlikely to be picked for the England tour, but going forward he can be a very good option for the No. 4 batting position. In addition to them, Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal could also be considered as the No. 4 batter for India in Test cricket. During his first Test series for India against England last year, Patidar batted at the No. 4 position in the third and fourth Tests but could only manage to score 22 runs in four innings and got out for a duck on two occasions. Padikkal also made his Test debut as a No. 4 batter against England in Dharamsala on March 7, 2024, and scored 65 runs in the first innings. The left-handed batter from Karnataka has only played two Test matches so far.