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After India’s 1-3 series defeat in five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 on Sunday, January 5, former India cricketers in Irfan Pathan and legend Sunil Gavaskar minced no words while talking about the two senior players, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and the team management. The two retired cricketers also fumed at the superstar culture prevalent in the Indian cricket team, while questioning the lack of commitments amid series of failures in international cricket.
However, the duo refrained from directly pin-pointing the two senior players on majority of occasions, but the members of the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) did not let it go as they were seen hell-bent on solving the ongoing dilemma in the Indian camp. It is to be noted, in eight innings, Virat Kohli scored 190 runs at an average of 23.75. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma managed only 31 runs across three Tests down under.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma to NOT retire on their own: Reports
However, the comments from several former cricketers and pundits might have come hard on the duo, a report in Dainik Jagran indicated that Kohli and Rohit are unlikely to retire on their own. This leaves a difficult task up to the Ajit Agarkar-led led selection committee. "The officials of the team are also unhappy with the defeat. The team going through a difficult phase of change will now have to do a lot of introspection after returning home,” the report read.
“When asked about this, the top BCCI official said, ‘I was listening to Gavaskar and Irfan after the match. When asked about Virat and Rohit, he said there are no indications that these two will retire from Tests on their own. BCCI cannot even ask them to retire, but something will have to be done for the team's betterment.’ Certainly, when the time comes, the selectors will take the right decision," the report added.
However, the 37-year-old Indian skipper boldly put down retirement rumours a day after opting out of the Sydney Test in BGT 2024-25, a report by PTI stated that Virat Kohli is also in “no mood to retire” and will play until 2027 ODI World Cup.
