 "Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket within a span of five days. Image: PTI")
Former South Africa cricketer Daryll Cullinan feels Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement was “long overdue” and it is not a “loss” for the Indian cricket team. He added that “anxiety” drove Virat Kohli towards retirement in Test cricket.
On 7 May, Indian Test and ODI captain Rohit dropped a bombshell as he retired from the five-day format days ahead of the team being picked for the England Test series. On 12 May, Virat Kohli followed suit and quit Test cricket at the age of 36 .
Rohit retired from Test cricket after scoring 4,301 runs in 67 matches, including 12 centuries and 18 fifties. However, he struggled big time in his last 15 innings and only scored at an average of 10.93. A newspaper has also claimed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors had already informed Rohit that his Test career was effectively over before the 38-year-old announced his retirement.
‘Rohit Sharma was reluctant in Australia’
The Indian cricket team is now in need of a new Test captain. Shubman Gill is leading that race, but a few feel Rohit should have stuck around for a five-match Test series in England. Former South Africa batter Daryll Cullinan doesn’t think so.
Looking at his recent poor stats and his decision to sit out of Sydney Test earlier this year due to poor form, Cullinan feels Rohit should have retired much earlier.
“Rohit’s retirement was probably long overdue in terms of test cricket away from India. Let’s be honest about it. He hasn’t really been the player that he throughout his career has been at home and we saw reluctance from him in recent Australian series to really take it on and lead from the front. So I don’t see that as being a loss for India at all,” Cullinan told Hindustan Times.
Kohli bid adieu to his favourite format after playing 123 matches and scoring 9230 runs with 30 centuries and 31 fifties. However, he also had a poor tour of Australia, at the end, scoring just 190 runs in five Test matches.
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View All‘Kohli didn’t want to get out of rut’
Cullinan feels Kohli’s prolonged poor form and the “anxiety” forced him to retire from a format he had championed for so long.
“His retirement didn’t really come as a surprise to me,” Cullinan told Hindustan Times. “We’ve seen in recent times he’s battled a bit at Test cricket. And what happens, I believe, as a batsman too, or sportsman or cricketer, is that when you are constantly working on your game and physically staying in shape and mentally dealing with anxiety at Test cricket, you get to a point where you don’t want to put in that work to get yourself out of a bad rut or find some form again.
“You don’t feel you want to do it anymore. I think that’s as much whether it’s injury or a really bad run which ends your career.”