 "Virat Kohli shushing the Aussie dressing room during a Test match. Image: AFP")
Virat Kohli’s sudden retirement from Test format shocked everyone across the cricket world. Kohli announced his retirement from red-ball cricket last month, just days before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was scheduled to unveil the squad for the Test series against England.
Miandad and Afridi react to Kohli’s retirement
Reactions to Kohli’s Test retirement have now come from across the border. Former Pakistan captains Javed Miandad and Shahid Afridi have shared their views, calling Kohli a modern-day great and someone who deserved to play for a few more years. Miandad even speculated that there might be more to the story, considering how suddenly Kohli announced his retirement.
“There’s no denying that Kohli has been a modern-day great, a match-winner, and a fine captain. For him to leave the game he loved so suddenly suggests there’s more to the story. In my view, he could have easily played until the end of 2027. Sure, he had a rough patch, but show me a great batsman who hasn’t,” Miandad was quoted as saying to Telecom Asia Sport.
“You can say a lot about Kohli — he’s been fiery, sometimes controversial — but you can’t deny what he’s done for Indian cricket. He gave his all for the team and won matches single-handedly. Players like him are rare, and they deserve to be treated differently. He used to be hot-headed. I remember even Sunil Gavaskar once asked the BCCI to rein him in. But since his marriage, he’s matured a lot. He deserved more respect,” Afridi said.
Kohli’s retirement from the longest format of the game marks the end of a golden era. Before Kohli, India captain Rohit Sharma also stepped down from the Test arena. The BCCI has made Shubman Gill the new captain of the Indian Test team. Before Rohit took over, Kohli was the skipper across all formats and was known for his aggressive approach in batting as well as captaincy.
Kohli finished his Test career as India’s most successful red-ball captain. Under his leadership, India won their first-ever Test series in Australia and became the first Asian team to do so. India also reached the final of the inaugural World Test Championship under Kohli’s captaincy.