Retired or pushed out: The curious case of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s abrupt Test retirement

The entire cricketing world, especially in the Indian cricketing circle, is filled with debates and discussions after the abrupt and sudden Test retirements of legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. It was on Wednesday, May 7, when Rohit Sharma shocked everyone with his Test retirement, with an Instagram story.

Following Rohit, his long-time teammate and legendary India batter Virat Kohli followed the same footmarks and announced his Test retirement with an Instagram post on Monday, May 12. But there are a lot of questions on both the retirement announcements from two legends of the game. The bigger one is about the timing of these announcements, just a month before a big challenge in the upcoming five-match Test series against England in England.

Having said that, the million-dollar question that remains after these abrupt retirements is that if they retired of their own will or were pushed out by the bosses from the future Test plans of Team India. To understand this, one must recall the way the BCCI organised the two-match Test series between India and the West Indies 12 years back and which marked the last appearance of former legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar, including his 200^th Test.

The timing of that series was also questioned, whether Sachin really wanted to retire or was just given a farewell series by the board to make way for youngsters, considering the plans.

The claims that question the timing of Virat Kohli’s retirement

Coming back to the curious case of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s Test retirements, a lot of serious questions are being asked by the cricket fans and the experts of the game if they wanted to end their careers in whites this way.

The statements from the Delhi Ranji coach and former India selector, Sarandeep Singh, also left everyone sceptical about what could have happened behind the doors, which made the ‘motivated’ Virat Kohli announce his retirement.

“Only he knows the reason (for his retirement). Everyone is shocked. There was no sign of it. Neither did I hear from anyone else about this. Look at the way he is performing in the IPL. He is in good form,” said Sarandeep Singh after the former skipper announced his Test retirement on Monday.

“I asked him if he would play a couple of County Cricket matches before the England tour. He said, ‘No Paaji, I am looking to play India A matches. Two India A matches where I will prepare for the Test series.’ He had a settled plan. Suddenly, seeing him end his red-ball career is surprising. He doesn’t have any fitness issues, no form issues,” he added later.

Furthermore, the revelations Sarandeep Singh made dropped like a bombshell on the Indian cricket fans, and they are now left with a big question: “Was Kohli forced to retire from the Tests?”.

“If you look at the Australia tour, Virat is known for his big runs Down Under. He started with a century and didn’t get it. He was not satisfied with it,” Singh said.

"During the Ranji Trophy, he told me, ‘I want to score three or four hundreds in England. I have to take responsibility for being the senior batter in the team,” he concluded.

If Sarandeep Singh is to be believed, which is not so hard as he owned his claims, what does it make of the nature of decision-makers? Do the players of Kohli’s stature deserve to be forced to retire, and that too after taking the team to such heights, be it with captaincy or with batting? The answer might be simple no, but that’s how the world works. 

Let’s understand this way with an analogy: if the bosses of a company are keen to practice their power and enjoy the authority, they will never refrain from doing so. For them, it doesn’t matter how much an individual has delivered for the company, but if they have made up their mind to lay him off, they will find any way to make it look natural and keep them away from being the villain in anyone’s point of view. 

Also Read: Top 5 iconic moments of Virat Kohli in Test cricket history

Captaincy Conundrum and Rohit Sharma’s decision

More or less, similar is the case with Rohit Sharma’s retirement. Initially, there were speculations that the board or selectors might acquire his services as a player, not a captain, in the England Test series. Later, the media reports suggested the selectors wanted a new captain, and they wanted to sack Rohit Sharma from captaincy. It was also reportedly backed by the BCCI.

Eventually, the entire round of speculations came to an end on Wednesday, May 7, when Rohit Sharma posted an Instagram story, announcing his retirement from Test cricket. But one will surely question how a senior player of Rohit Sharma’s stature can announce sudden retirement after expressing his eagerness to play for India in an upcoming Test assignment in England. Again, the timing of the retirement was under the scanner.

Just a month ago, Rohit had expressed his desire to play in the five-match Test series against England. During a podcast with former Australia skipper Michael Clarke, Rohit spoke his heart out about his plans for the England series.

“We just have to make sure they come out of IPL really well. This is the most challenging one. I know it's only four overs, but you play today, travel tomorrow, and then play again. That's the challenging part - travelling all across the country - and it's challenging. I hope these two guys, along with the other guys, come out of the IPL,” Rohit had said to Michael Clarke.

“If we have a fit team going to England, we will have a great series. It will be a good challenge for us,” he added later. 

So, concluding this entire discussion, it can be said firmly that these kinds of retirements are never natural, as there’s always something behind these kinds of abrupt decisions from the legends of the game, and someone must answer this for the sake of fans' emotions. A similar theory applies in the case of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who had a lot of cricket left in them, but they decided to leave abruptly despite the shocking fact that both of them were eager to represent India in the upcoming Test assignments. 

Also Read: ‘I don’t pay attention to…’ – Rohit Sharma calls out critics post Test retirement