Is Virat Kohli following the footsteps of Rohit Sharma?
Interestingly, this time around, it seems that unlike in the case of Rohit, who according to many reports, was informed that he may not be considered for the England tour, it is the other way round with Kohli with the star batter himself taking the call.
Hyderabad: Close on the heels of the retirement from Test cricket of India’s greatest white-ball batter, Rohit Sharma, it may be the turn of the other biggest name of Indian cricket – Virat Kohli – to follow suit!
Interestingly, this time around, it seems that unlike in the case of Rohit, who according to many reports, was informed that he may not be considered for the England tour, it is the other way round with Kohli with the star batter himself taking the call.
However, as things stand now, there is no official announcement from Kohli in this regard.
According to reports, Kohli has reportedly hinted his desire to say goodbye to Test cricket, ahead of the team selection later this month for the England tour next month featuring five Test matches.
For the record, the 36-year-old Kohli played 123 Tests, leading in 68 of them, scoring 9230 runs at an average of 46.85 spanning 14 years. He also scored 30 centuries and 31 fifties.
However, as things stand, the BCCI is not really keen to see India without the services of another big name in the team on a tour which is clearly expected to be a huge challenge, especially for the batters.
The line of argument by the BCCI is that Kohli is fit and still has the hunger for runs as he has shown in the just-cancelled IPL being the lead scorer for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru scoring 505 runs from 11 games.
The BCCI officials feel that Kohli’s mere presence should be inspirational, especially for the young talent who are anyhow expected to lead the fortunes of the national team in the coming years.
It will be interesting to see whether Kohli, known for taking decisions after a lot of thinking and once determined to stick to it, will say it once for all that he is not in the reckoning for the England tour.
