Virat Kohli‘s retirement from Test cricket has left Indian cricket with a vacuum that may not be filled for a long time. Already dealing with the retirements of Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma, Indian Test cricket lost the services of another veteran when Kohli, through an Instagram post on May 12, announced that he would not longer be continuing in the longest format. That he was not keen on continuing in Tests was a buzz that was already quite loud in the days leading up to the announcement. But when it happened, most were taken aback as reports suggested that the BCCI and several other big names had tried to convince Kohli to continue playing with India’s Tour of England starting in June.
Now, according to report, Virat Kohli was given a hint that he may be made the Indian cricket team Test captain again during India’s Tour of Australia in December-January. In the video report by Sports Today, it is said that Kohli was hinted about a return to captaincy. This happened after India lost the second Test in Adelaide under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
“At least people close to him do seem to suggest that he was given sort of a hint that he would be getting captaincy after Adelaide. But then things changed,” the report said.
Then India lost the series and the report mentioned that there was a ‘change in tone’ and the though process of the team management was that it should look at a young captain. The report mentioned that Kohli was still hopeful of getting back the captaincy and also played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi in February, as mandated by the BCCI. But in April, Kohli was told that he was being as a player. Then the star decided to retire.
In fact, former India cricketer and national selector Sarandeep Singh, who is also the coach of the Delhi team, recently made some stunning revelations.
“There was no hint (of retirement). Did not even hear from anywhere. Some days ago, I was talking to him but I did not get any hint that he was thinking about this. The kind of IPL he is having, he is in incredible form,” Singh said.
“I asked him if will he would play County cricket before the Test matches. He said he wanted to play two India ‘A’ matches before the Test series (against England). It was already settled. Suddenly, we hear he will no longer play red ball cricket. There is no fitness issue. No form issue. He got one century in Australia, but he was not satisfied. During the Ranji Trophy, he was saying that he wants to score three-four centuries in England because is the most senior player in the team.”
With the latest report, it seems behind Kohli’s retirement there might be more reasons than what meet the eyes.
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