New Delhi: Team India batting ace Virat Kohli reportedly wishes to take retirement from Test cricket and has even informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about his decision. This comes days before the selectors get ready to pick the Indian Test squad for the England tour scheduled next month. However, the top officials from the board have asked him to reconsider the decision.
As per a report in the Indian Express, the former India skipper is yet to respond to the board’s request to give the retirement decision a second thought. “He has made up his mind and has informed the board that he is moving on from Test cricket. The BCCI has urged him to rethink as the crucial England tour is coming up. He is yet to revert on the request,” sources told the newspaper.
Only three days back, his compatriot and long-time friend Rohit Sharma had announced his retirement from Tests, and it can be said that Kohli’s decision has been derived from it. The report added that Kohli was contemplating his Test future since India’s drubbing at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia earlier this year, in which he went through a lean patch of form after hitting a ton in the first Test.
Team India will undergo a crucial five-Test series against the Englishmen and, for the first time in recent years, looks set to take the field without two of their highly experienced batters. If Kohli doesn’t reverse his decision, and with Rohit already out of the picture, India will be left with a largely inexperienced middle-order that will then join forces with Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, and with Rishabh Pant down the order.
Kohli, who became the Test captain of India in December 2014, and Rohit, who took over the reins from him in February 2022, had been the two veteran guiding hands for the team for nearly 11 long years.
More to follow…
According to a report, Virat Kohli has already conveyed his decision to quit red-ball cricket to the BCCI and the board has asked him to reconsider looking at the crucial England tour next month. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
