Monday, 12 May 2025
Monday, 12 May 2025
At a media summit on May 6, India’s cricket coach Gautam Gambhir was asked who is the player he thinks should retire. He hesitated at first, but when the anchor prodded him a bit, he said Virat Kohli.
On May 10, reports said that Kohli, who has been India’s best Test captain, is set to retire. While nothing is confirmed yet, it is reported that a source within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has revealed that Virat Kohli told them that he wishes to retire from Test.
While most would have thought that Kohli would have played Tests till the next World Test Championship cycle, he may not be in the team for the upcoming series against England set to begin on June 20.
But this is not a surprise given a lot has been happening since Gautam Gambhir has taken over the team.
On July 9, 2024, BCCI hired former India batter Gambhir as the head coach of the Indian men’s team. This was after India lifted the T20 World Cup in Barbados on June 29, 2024. Rahul Dravid did not want to continue and the BCCI wanted an Indian at the helm of the coaching set up.
But since Gambhir has taken over, it has been downhill for Indian cricket and many–Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, T. Dilip have been paid the price for it apart from Gambhir.
Gambhir’s first assignment was a limited over series in Sri Lanka where India won the T20 but failed to win a single ODI in the three match series. That was India’s first loss in an ODI series in Sri Lanka in 27 years.
Next was the three match Test series at home against New Zealand. The result– India’s first whitewash at home at the hands of New Zealand and also the first time India failed to win a home test since the 2000 series against South Africa.
Next up was the dismal series versus Australia Down Under. While India won the first Test at Perth under Bumrah’s captaincy, helped by a Kohli hundred and Jaiswal’s innings of 161, it was downhill from there.
Australia won the series three-one and India ended up dropping their then Test captain Rohit Sharma from the fifth test.
Another major problem India faced during the series was Ravichandran Ashwin, a veteran of 106 Tests and 537 wickets, announcing his retirement from Tests after the third test of the series. Ashwin played the second Test, was dropped for the third and decided to retire.
To cover up for India’s loss in Australia, two coaches were sacked, Abhishek Nayar and T. Dilip the fielding coach who had become very popular for his fielding drill and post match dressing room awards.
There is a leak in the BCCI and it cannot be a coincidence that these leaks have started since Gambhir’s arrival.
There is news of dressing room infighting, squabbles amongst coaches and players and groupism–things that were absent when Rahul Dravid was at the helm of the coaching set up.
Rohit Sharma during the final test in Australia had said that because he was dropped for the Test, he won’t be announcing his retirement.
On May 7, Indian Express reported that selectors were discussing dropping Rohit from captaincy. He announced his retirement from Tests with a picture of his Test cap on his Instagram story, a few hours after the report.
Is it Gambhir? Is it the BCCI using Gambhir as a front to clear out what they feel is deadwood? Gambhir has long been a torchbearer in the fight against the superstar culture which boils down to when certain individuals are greater than the team.
Is it the team that suffers or succeeds when the superstars perform?
While Kohli’s recent Test form doesn’t do his career any justice, his form in the shorter format, be it the Champions Trophy or the IPL, shows he still has his game left.
So why all of a sudden are there rumours that he is retiring? Is BCCI or Gambhir’s team feeding the media to clear shop and start afresh?
When you are heading to England for a crucial five match series and Ravindra Jadeja is your most senior player, does that help exude confidence across the dressing room?
Who does this chaos help? Clearly not Indian cricket.
