'Won't be surprised if Champions Trophy win hastens Kohli’s decision to quit ODIs: Mumbai cricket legend Milind Rege

2024 might have been a bit of a forgettable year for Indian cricket, especially in the Test format, but 2025 has begun on a bright note, as far as the team’s best format currently – T20I cricket – is concerned, with two wins in the first two matches at home against England. The reigning T20 World champions look unstoppable currently and some of the signs are very promising for ODI cricket as well – a format that Team India will be playing quite a bit of this year, beginning with a three-match series against the English, which starts on February 6.

But just because the year has changed doesn’t mean that some of the genuine concerns should be brushed under the carpet. They need to be talked about and discussed and solutions found. The powers that be will no doubt make that one of their big priorities in 2025.

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So, what is the overall health of Indian cricket like right now? How should the selectors and the BCCI tackle sensitive issues like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s international future, the next Test captain after Rohit, what signal does the Board’s 10-point diktat really send, the ‘superstar culture’ in Indian cricket that is being talked about so much, what more is needed in cricket administration in India, how well is the BCCI running the most popular sport in India, etc? You ideally need a voice that is both tremendously respected and also one that doesn’t mince any words to talk about topics like these truthfully and in minute detail. Someone like Mr. Milind Rege, a former Mumbai cricket captain, who was part of as many as six Ranji Trophy title-winning teams, a Mumbai Chief selector, cricket expert and now cricket advisor for the Mumbai Cricket Association, is perfect for a conversation like this.

In this interview, Mr. Rege talks about a variety of hot topics in Indian cricket right now, while also giving invaluable advice to both the players and the administrators.

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This is part one of an exclusive interview with Milind Rege.

Excerpts….

What was your impression of the overall performance that Team India put up in the last edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy - in Australia? The trophy was relinquished for the first time in a decade, but overall, what did you make of the brand of cricket that was played?

Rege: First and foremost, I think we are overdoing the reactions of losing that Test series. Why is it that the whole country puts the team down when you lose a series? Let’s take this sport as a sport. I think we were fairly and squarely beaten by Australia. The fact remains that it’s not easy to play in conditions that are alien to us. The players are playing in countries like Australia and South Africa quite a bit, but adjusting (to the conditions there) is not easy and the dual failures of the two best players (Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) have caused a lot of problems in this team, but beyond that I don’t see any reason why this team won’t bounce back again.

Lots of talk about the ‘superstar culture’ that has seeped into Indian cricket, especially after the loss in Australia and then news of the BCCI’s 10-point diktat, most of which already existed and were part of player contracts. What is your take sir on some players choosing to do certain things their way, which some former players have said never happened before, even with star players of their generation…

Rege: I hate to talk about earlier years because that is all gone. You need to change with the times. But in the earlier years when Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Ganguly, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Kumble and all these players played there were 10 superstars. This superstar culture is a made-up thing by people who want to sit and chat about it. I don’t see any superstar culture, because at the end of it all if Kohli is an international great and if Rohit Sharma is a very, very good player, where does the question of superstar culture come in? I don’t know why we say this, because we don’t know what happens in the dressing room. This thing of the media hyping up the superstar culture so much and finding an excuse for India’s loss, it saddens me. I personally feel that there is no such thing as superstar culture. You look at sport all over the world – Ronaldo, Messi – they are all superstars. Also, the fact that there is so much cricket in India today. BCCI makes its players play round the clock. On doesn’t know what to pick, where to play. There’s no rest for these players whatsoever, so they will have to pick and choose. Now when you talk about the diktat – the diktat has probably come a bit too late. The BCCI also gave them (the players) a free hand to decide, so it’s obvious it becomes a superstar culture.

I will put the ball in the BCCI’s court – that they should have tightened their grip right from day one and not allowed players to decide what they want to play, what they don’t want to play, with a little niggle and to go to the NCA to get it checked out. All these things have become a different part of the game today. In earlier days there was no such thing as going to the NCA to check if he’s fit to bowl 4 overs, 10 overs, 20 overs. In my mind, all this is the new culture of sports all over the world. I cannot believe that a player who doesn’t bowl 20 overs in a day has to bowl just 3 or 4 overs in a practice session. How would he know how long he can last for? The change in our entire thinking process of how to deal with cricketers, and how to deal with cricket has to be dealt with by people who have played the game. Let this game be decided by people who know a lot more about what happens on the ground where they have played 40, 50, 60 Test matches. That’s when they know exactly what happens to a player, how much he can take, how much leeway to give him. All this happens when somebody who has played the game controls all this and not armchair critics who sit there.

In other words, are you advocating for more former players to be involved in cricket administration in India? Are you saying we need to see more of that?

Rege: Of course, we need to see more of that. Of course, this entire restriction on a selector not being more than 60 years old, I think has taken the game backward. You look at the way a Dilip Vengsarkar or a Mohinder Amarnath or a Kapil Dev or Madan Lal – are they (so) old that they don’t know the game? After all a selector has to be the most experienced man, he need not be young. If today there’s a selector who has played one Test match and he has to decide if Kohli is fit, what is he going to say? I don’t want to take anything away from the opportunity that these players get, I am not taking anything away from the experience they have of even playing First-Class cricket. You take my case as an example – I have played only for Mumbai, but I have been a Mumbai selector for 35 years and am now cricket advisor. Mumbai has taken the lead, to say that – ‘look, let’s use the experience to decide how good or bad a player is’ because at the end of it all – the selection is only a matter of debate, discussion and (having the) experience of how a player would do well in that arena. And for that arena to be decided the player has to be in there to decide the arena.

It’s interesting that you say that. If I could then link two things that we have talked about so far – the ‘superstar culture’ and the need to have more people who have actually played the game be part of cricket administration – do you think that one of the reasons that we see star players kind of go against the written rules sometimes is because they feel that they know more than the people running the sport? Do you think that culture also sometimes seeps in?

Rege: I think that that culture – if it is there amongst today’s cricketers is totally wrong, because he’s doing his job, you are doing your job. Today for example the modern-day cricketer doesn’t like a commentator talking about his cricket or point out flaws. He says – ‘he sits in that box over there and decides’. No, they (commentators) have all played and once you become a commentator, you will do the same thing. So, the shoe is on the other foot always, you see. Today I can sit and challenge a Test cricketer also, because of my experience, but I have no experience of playing in the middle in Test matches. So, my experience of what happens in the middle is I won’t say limited but there is a limit to how much I can understand also about what the player goes through. Having said that – if one Ranji Trophy player has to be a selector then it does happen that he somewhere falls short in understanding what the player is going through. But like you asked me earlier, the player has no right to decide (and think) – ‘I have played more than you, so who are you to decide what I should do’. That is entirely a wrong culture and that has led to many a downfall. Cricketers should play the game and go home. Perform or perish. In their life today, all that they have to do is perform (play) because they are paid well, they travel well, their families are with them, the best of facilities are given to them, they travel business class and whatnot, so they cannot crib about what is given to them. Their job is only to play the game, perform for India and go home.

As someone who has been associated with Indian cricket for such a long time, as a player, a selector, as an administrator, as a cricket expert, how would you describe the overall culture of Indian cricket right now? The BCCI has evolved into a very strong body, financially and otherwise. The supply line of Indian cricket, both in terms of batting and bowling seems quite robust. When you look at and think about Indian cricket’s overall health, what crosses your mind? The macro point of view…

Rege: I think Indian cricket is the best in the world today. I don’t think anywhere in the world there are two and half thousand matches conducted by any board – right from the u-15 level to the Ranji Trophy level or even the Duleep Trophy level. So, let’s give the board (BCCI) that credit for having conducted this game beautifully in the country. Their marketing of course is the best of all, because they can rake in the moolah and where you have the money you become powerful and you can run the game, and give it to the players. And what I love about the BCCI is that they are giving quite a bit of it (the income generated) for the benefit of the players. What has to be spent is being spent and kudos to them and my hat off to them to say that – ‘you all are doing a wonderful job’. The health of the game today is also solid because of the facilities. You look at the newer teams – today Mumbai is struggling against J&K at 80 or 90 for 7 (Ranji Trophy Elite match), so the competition is immense – why? Because the game has spread into all the mofussil areas and the game has been spread all over by the BCCI with all kinds of facilities.

Look at the kind of stadiums that have come up, look at the gyms that have come up. It’s amazing what the BCCI has done. And it’s also amazing that the state associations get paid for it, from the BCCI. But still, to use that money in the way that they do, every administrator who is there, by and large thinks of the game, it’s goodwill and for the benefit of the players. So, I think the game in India is very strong and on a very strong footing. We have no worries about it for the future, at least for the next many years.

One thing that fans and experts alike have been talking about a fair bit in recent times is Virat and Rohit’s future as international cricketers. What is your take on what Virat must be thinking right now, in terms of where he stands currently?

Rege: There’s no doubt in my mind that Virat Kohli is a legend. Virat Kohli today is probably the fittest player in the Indian team and he works really hard at it. But as age increases, reflexes get slower. When reflexes slow down by (even) 5% - the ball today goes by like a rocket – so you have got to make the adjustments. I am sure that Virat knows about it, but there are certain habits that are being formed and those habits will have to be curtailed by Virat of reaching outside the off stump. He knows it better than all of us put together as coaches. It embarrasses me to say that Virat Kohli needs to be told that your left foot is not coming forward or you are reaching too much outside the off stump or you are opening the face of the bat to play at point instead of the new ball being played at mid-off or mid-on – these are things Virat knows. If you remember Tendulkar’s career, in the latter part of his career he started taking more balls to score runs, because Tendulkar realised that some of his shots had dwindled or lessened, shall I say. And so, he cut out those shots. So, there will be a time when Virat will surely think about what his game was, why he failed, what shots he needs to cut (out). But he is so physically fit and mentally also he is so strong, that he feels that ‘I can do this’.

The day he realises that ‘maybe I can play a little more percentage cricket’, he will start batting better. There’s no doubt in my mind that Virat has many years of cricket left in him. What he will play, which format, it all depends because I feel that these choices should be made by the body and the mind of the player concerned. If you remember Sunil Gavaskar, when he retired in 1987, some balls went quickly past his ear and that is the time I think he decided that ‘no, I think I am slowing down and I think it is time for me to now hang up my boots’. Also, Tendulkar – he would have played at least a year or two more on sheer grit and temperament and Virat has all these things. So, let us leave it to Virat Kohli to decide when he wants to retire. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a Champions Trophy (title) win would hasten his decision to quit ODI cricket also and concentrate on Test cricket. But the choice should be left entirely to the great player.

And Rohit Sharma and what you think is the need of the hour for him…

As far as Rohit Sharma is concerned – definitely Rohit will have to work on his technique. He has slowed down a little bit. He also knows that his left foot is not coming to the ball. Rohit has always played cricket and batted with flair. He has been a great player. He has been a touch player and all touch players need to (at some time) adjust their techniques. For example, if you saw Virender Sehwag – he was one of the greatest Indian opening batsmen of all time and he played on touch and feel and hand-eye coordination, Rohit Sharma is the same. But probably the day Sehwag realised that his feet are not moving as well as he would like them to, he decided to quit. So, let’s see what Rohit does, but he will definitely have to make a few adjustments to his technique. I am sure the coaches are telling him what to do, but the body (also) has to do what the mind tells it to do. That’s important.