FOR SOMEONE WHO strutted on cricket fields across the world with gladiatorial aplomb, Virat Kohli’s retirement from Tests was uncharacteristically undramatic. “I’ll always look back at my Test career with a smile. #269, signing off,” is how he ended his poignant but sedate post on Instagram.
Kohli’s cricketing brilliance and incandescent personality outshone everyone in the sport since his debut. And now, he has moved into the shade, leaving millions of his fans in dismay and the wider world in disbelief.
Kohli has been a force of nature. Feisty, provocative, confrontational, but above all a player whose influence on Indian cricket was, as former greats Greg Chappell and Michael Vaughan termed it, ‘transformative’.
His exploits in all formats are Himalayan, an expression of not just fantastic skills, but also great grit, unflinching willpower, undying ambition, unquenchable desire to excel and an uncompromising work ethic. The sum total of these aspects was an electrifying force that brought the world to attention wherever he played.
This was most strikingly manifest when he was captain. Former India chief coach Ravi Shastri, who had a seven-year partnership with Kohli that kept India among the top three in all formats, credits him with making India into a supremely combative unit, especially overseas.
“Fiercely competitive and intensely motivated to be the best in the world, at a personal level and with his team, he was extremely demanding when it came to attitude, intent and fitness,” says Shastri. “Sometimes this did not sit well with some of his teammates, but Kohli never asked anyone to do what he couldn’t himself.”
Shastri and Kohli reoriented India’s approach to red-ball cricket, particularly by putting major accent on pace to win overseas.
Kohli’s stats in white-ball cricket, especially ODIs, might overshadow his Test numbers, but his impact in red-ball cricket was perhaps greater. He was Test cricket’s biggest ambassador, someone who breathed life into a format that had started to wane.
His best performances came in Australia. In 2011, on his first tour, he hit a maiden Test century in the last match, laying the foundation for a fabulous career. Tipped to succeed his hero Sachin Tendulkar as the next big thing from India, Kohli lived up to the billing as he went from strength to strength, one milestone to another, in rapid time.
In 2014-15, in Australia, he hammered 692 runs in four Tests. Shastri, who was cricket director then, says he hadn’t seen any Indian bat as well overseas apart from Mohinder Amarnath in the West Indies in 1982-83.
The peak of Kohli’s captaincy, too, came in Australia. In 2018-19, India broke the psychological stranglehold Australia had enjoyed for 70 years. In 2020-21, India repeated the series win, though Kohli was back in India for the birth of his daughter. The change in mindset he had effected was paying dividends even in his absence.
Ironically, his last series in Australia marked a dismal end to a lean 2024 in Tests for him, and was possibly a big factor in him calling it a day.
The retirements of Kohli and Rohit Sharma provoked wide debate and discussion all over the cricket world. The timing seemed abrupt in both cases, perhaps more unexpected with the younger and demonstrably fitter Kohli. Both had used social media to make their decision public and both kept the ODI option open. It almost seemed they were borrowing moves from the same playbook.
Of course, players retiring simultaneously is not uncommon. The most striking example is of legendary Aussies Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh signing off in the same Test in 1984.
While there are myriad reasons why players retire, this happening in multiple numbers usually finds a common underlying cause. Conspiracy theorists highlight a disquieting pattern after the Test debacles against New Zealand at home and in Australia,with the unexpected retirements of R. Ashwin mid-series Down Under, and Sharma and Kohli in the past few days. The sacking of three support staff members a couple of weeks ago had set tongues wagging about a purge in process.
But there are other aspects to the retirements of Sharma and Kohli which can’t be glossed over. Both have had an extremely long streak of low Test scores in the past year, so much so that Sharma even dropped himself from the last Test against Australia. In keeping with new-age sensibilities, both have shown reluctance to spend long periods away from their young families. Moreover, now in their late 30s, both have limited time left at the international level. All these could have played a part, in varying degree, in their decision.
Precisely what precipitated their retirements has not been clarified. Between the Australia series and now, there was no red-ball cricket. The only way to assess form was in the Champions Trophy and the IPL. Kohli, particularly, and Sharma have done well in both.
BCCI sources say that behind-the-scenes parleys between the players, selectors and the board were not conclusive. The fact that both were given grade A+ central contracts three weeks back means they were in the running for the tour of England, imbuing the recent happening with even more intrigue.
Their abrupt retirement suggests that ongoing back-channel talks had failed. Whether this was for reasons solely of performance, ego or poor negotiations is open to speculation. Former India skipper Anil Kumble, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, was among those who believed that the BCCI could have handled the issue better.
On the horizon now is a five-Test series in England starting late June. India haven’t won a series there since 2007. Losing the captain as well as the two most experienced top-order batters has sent India’s selectors scampering for answers.
While the talent supply pipeline is overflowing―Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Rajat Patidar, Ruturaj Gaikwad (if fit) and Abhishek Sharma, to name a few―plugging these holes would be challenging. Add to this the fact that they need to pick a squad with balance, depth and heft in all departments for a new captain―Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, K.L. Rahul and Rishabh Pant lead the race―and the day has become much longer for chief selector Ajit Agarkar and his cohorts.
