Kane Williamson says Virat Kohli conversation prompted his retirement decision

Kane Williamson said a conversation with Virat Kohli helped him decide to retire from international cricket, speaking about the exchange on the 'Between the Two Beers' podcast after announcing in June during the England Test series that he would leave the game with immediate effect.

The former New Zealand captain ended a 16-year international career without taking a formal farewell and without reaching 10,000 Test runs. Williamson has said he weighed his options with people close to him before making the call, and he turned to Kohli as part of that process. Kohli also fell short of the 10,000-run mark in Tests before announcing his own retirement from the format, and both batsmen are described in the source as part of the Fab 4 of modern cricket.

"I spoke to a number of people I trust and I've been really really close with. And then I actually had a really really cool chat with Virat like the day before I announced it and it was really like looking in the mirror just sharing the experiences that we've had in the game for so long," Williamson said on 'Between the Two Beers' podcast.

"He's (Kohli) still playing a little bit, but largely he made some of those big decisions and that like honestly just cheering There's no one else I think, even players in your own team from, at times, that have just been in that exact same position for the exact same length of time, captaincy roles, children at the same time. Like we sort of live this parallel thing. We had a really quite special relationship, but although different worlds, and it was just quite a cool thing to be able to share some of that real vulnerable stuff and how you were feeling and just connect over it and it and I was like I walked out of there or I got off the phone, my wife walked into the hotel room and I was like, it's time," said Williamson.

The two batting greats are presented in the source as having had long careers that made substantial impacts across all three formats, and Williamson described his relationship with Kohli as "really quite special" and characterised their experiences as running in parallel. Williamson said he shared vulnerable feelings with Kohli during their conversation and that the exchange helped crystallise his decision to retire.

Kohli retired from T20Is in 2024 and from Tests in 2025 but remains active in ODIs; he is currently part of the side touring New Zealand for a five-match series.