Virat Kohli has called time on his Test career five days after Rohit Sharma did so, the decision coming ahead of next month’s England tour and leaving in its wake a trail of unanswered questions.
Kohli had informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last month about his desire to step aside but was asked to reconsider. An influential and former board office-bearer did speak to him on Sunday but couldn’t change his mind.
“The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever.… As I step away from this format, it’s not easy — but it feels right,” Kohli said in a social media post.
“I’ve given it everything I had, and it’s given me back so much more than I could’ve hoped for.” He ended with “#269 (his Test cap number), signing off”.
Was the dip in his batting form over the past five years the reason for the big decision? Was it the change of support staff and Rahul Dravid’s departure as head coach? Had he made his mind up in Australia once the runs dried up despite his best efforts? Did Rohit Sharma’s abrupt exit serve as a catalyst?
Sources told The Telegraph that Kohli didn’t wish to be left at the mercy of the selectors after being queried about his future plans following his poor tour Down Under.
Virat Kohli with head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Fully aware that Rohit’s days were numbered following the debacle in Australia, Kohli knew that at 36, he would have to go next. The veteran of 123 Tests and 30 centuries did drop a hint about his frame of mind in his Instagram post. He embedded Frank Sinatra’s song My Way (I did it my way) for people to read between the lines.
There’s also talk that Shubman Gill’s ascent to captaincy was a quiet and clear message from the team management to the seniors that the accent would be on youth, and reputations wouldn’t count, as India went on building a side for the future.
The BCCI, which has given head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar a free hand to deal with the transition process, didn’t wish to intervene. Still, the top brass wanted Kohli to continue till at least the England series since it’s going to be tough for a young team in alien conditions. Besides, the five-match series kicks off a new World Test Championship cycle.
The only way the Board could have put pressure on Kohli to continue was by offering him the leadership in England. But the team management wasn’t willing to go back to India’s most successful Test captain.
The whiff of a cold war and a battle of egos cannot, however, hide Kohli’s struggles in Australia or his tendency to poke outside the off stump — with disastrous consequences.
When he scored 100 not out in Perth in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener, it was his first century in Tests in nearly 16 months. In the remaining four matches, he managed a highest of 36.
So, has he lost the drive to go through the “grind” of Test cricket, or the mental strength to survive at the highest level?
At a Royal Challengers Bengaluru event in March, Kohli had spoken about his recent Test failures.
“Once you start taking on the energy and the disappointment from the outside, then you start burdening yourself way more,” he had said.
“And then you start thinking about things, like ‘I’ve got two or three days left on this tour, I need to make an impact now’. And you start getting more desperate. That’s something I’ve surely experienced in Australia as well.”
It’s anyone’s guess whether the memory of that despondency too contributed to his retirement.