New Delhi: ‘Anxiety triggered Virat Kohli’s retirement, England tour would have been tough’; ‘He might not have been selected by BCCI due to poor form’; ‘Fresh angle in reasons behind Kohli’s Test goodbye.’
Six days after the former India captain announced retirement from Test cricket, the rumour mill is refusing to cool down. The stock of speculation has hit the circuit breaker. The internet is flooded with analysis trying to solve the mystery—’Why did he do it?’ Some are also asking ‘Why now?’ There are hour-long podcasts and 30-second reels available. Choose what suits your schedule but you won’t get an answer. At least for now. It may take a biography, even an autobiography, for the truth to reveal itself.
If social media buzz is any barometer for retirement announcements, Kohli has got the timing bang on. He is being missed by fans as if he has retired from all forms. That is the level Kohli has taken the collective interest in Test cricket to. But if Indian cricket is the concern, Kohli’s sudden decision is likely to have sent ripples across the ecosystem that runs the show.
The game of cricket in India needs a hero whose influence goes far beyond the 22 yards. Ever since Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup at Lord’s in 1983, Indian cricket has continued to produce national icons. Its biggest, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, was born out of that win. In multiple interviews, Sachin has admitted his eureka moment came watching India lift that cup. He carried the game and the ecosystem for 24 long years. Then came Kohli. The game became bigger, administrator purses fatter. Now, he is fading away from the firmament but a replacement is not in sight. Partly that is why he continued to play despite a slump in form over the last five years.
A total of 9,230 Test runs from 123 matches can’t possibly capture the impact Kohli has had on Indian cricket over the last 15 years. He leaves a Test side with many “garden mein ghoomne wale” players who would no more enjoy the cushion Kohli. And he leaves the Board in a bind—anxious about finding that next big poster boy. That is why Virat Kohli’s sudden retirement from Tests is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of The Week.
His game…
Fans are emotional creatures. One moment, players reside inside their hearts, the other, they are wielding swords online, calling for their retirement. Kohli fans have been oscillating between these two emotions for over five years now. The years 2020 onward have been Kohli’s toughest. Yet, when the time came, emotions ran high. Some are even blaming him for having left the team in the lurch barely seven weeks before the high-octane Test series in England. That is trust Kohli.
Barring 2023, when he scored 671 runs in 12 innings at an astonishing average of 55.9, Kohli has struggled badly in the last six years. His batting average in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024 stood at 19.3, 28.2, 26.5, and 24.5, respectively. It’s a performance chart even the richest cricket board couldn’t fly with for long.
For all the ways Kohli shifted the culture of the dressing room, he has been also accused of an age-old folly—of not having called it quits “at the right time”. Sachin was accused of it, so was Dhoni. But when you are used to amassing tonnes after tonnes for years, it would take a series of poor scores over a sustained period to make you realise that you have lost the gift permanently. It’s the memory of great innings from the past that tricks you into believing that you can still do it. Except you can’t.
Kohli carried his weight even in poor form and out of captaincy days. He is that institutional talent pool every new player keeps tapping into to improve their game. A kind of luxury almost all the previous teams in transition have had. But not the one travelling to England.
Also read: Kohli is the last superstar of Indian cricket. His impact on the game goes beyond 22 yards
…and its impact
Kohli’s impact on the game can’t be calculated fairly with just stats. With his exit, India’s middle order is now exposed like never before. Only Kohli could bring the kind of pressure on the opposition when he walked in to bat in a match where India was 50-odd for 2. And that was the case even when his form remained patchy.
With Kohli gone, India has lost a luxury of stability it has enjoyed at No. 4 for nearly three decades. Tendulkar batted there for nearly two decades. Then Kohli. Now the coach, the selectors, and the new captain have to fill an emptiness. For Kohli’s absence is not just a void.
From a leadership point of view, Kohli’s absence is no small loss either. He may have been playing under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy for the past four years, but his contribution on the field was often visible. India enjoyed the double leadership. Now both are gone. Kohli sat there in quiet confidence—between the captain and the vice-captain chipping in with his years of experience.
Kohli brought six packs to the Indian team and a fitness culture that was simply infectious. While this had its own share of detractors, its acceptance only grew louder. In fact, if age was the only factor, then it’s ironic he is retiring. No one rotates the strike as he does in the current Indian setup, putting pressure on the bowlers.
But it’s not all physical.
“When you are mentally fried and overcooked, that’s what tells your body, You might be physically the fittest guy in the business,” said former India coach and a long-term Kohli supporter Ravi Shastri.
The role of the board and the selectors in Kohli’s Test retirement is already being speculated. But with one certainty. Nobody will know the whole truth.
“The selectors may have cited his form in the past 5-6 years and told him his spot in the team may no longer be there. We will never find out what happened, it is difficult to know what took place behind the scenes,” said former India batter Mohammad Kaif to NDTV.
Kaif went on to add that Kohli may have entirely different plans before Monday came and he called it quits.
“But given the last minute decision, having played the Ranji trophy, I definitely think he wanted to come back in the upcoming Tests. The developments in the last few weeks, he may have not gotten the support he thought he will get from BCCI and selectors which he may not have gotten,” Kaif was quoted by NDTV.
Also read: IPL expansion will kill Test cricket. Players no longer care about playing for the country
‘My way’
In his retirement post on Instagram, Kohli borrowed from Frank Sinatra to say more than what he intended to. The song ‘My way’ encapsulates the story of the master batsman’s reign at the top and his never compromise attitude, both on and off the field. Now, reports suggest he didn’t give in to the Boards’ offer.
According to reports, the Board tried to convince Kohli not to hang up his whites. That he was offered the return of captaincy toward the end of the disastrous Australia tour earlier this year. But after the tour, the tone of the management changed. The hunt for a young captain had begun.
Delhi coach Sarandeep Singh is also surprised at his retirement announcement.
“I asked him if will he would play County cricket before the Test matches. He said he wanted to play two India ‘A’ matches before the Test series (against England). It was already settled. Suddenly, we hear he will no longer play red ball cricket. There is no fitness issue. No form issue. He got one century in Australia, but he was not satisfied. During the Ranji Trophy, he was saying that he wants to score three-four centuries in England because (he) is the most senior player in the team,” said Singh.
The hype and the scrutiny around Kohli’s retirement is unlikely to die down soon—even if it means it lives on source-based bytes from those who don’t want to spell the whole truth. And fans will do their two plus two. But the King will never walk in the whites. In blue, he will fight again. Kohli, the dominator-in-chief has played it with a straight bat. Over to the selectors planning England.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)