A polite inquiry, but Kohli was done
The former Indian captain took time to think but did not change his mind to retire from the format he loved
Mumbai: Before Virat Kohli dropped his Monday morning Instagram post to tell the world he was done with Test cricket, a leading Indian cricket official made a polite inquiry, asking him if he had thought long and hard about the decision.
“As I step away from this format, it’s not easy – but it feels right,” Kohli wrote. And with that, the 36-year-old called curtains to a career spanning 123 Tests of fierce desire – 68 of them as India’s most successful captain.
It is understood, Kohli had initiated a conversation with Chief selector Ajit Agarkar in April, during the course of the IPL that he wanted to retire, according to one BCCI official. “Then, Kohli was told to wait, to think it through,” the official said.
Given the former captain’s stature and what the void created by his absence would mean to the Indian Test team, senior board officials and head coach Gautam Gambhir are also known to have deliberated on the matter. Kohli was given time to think. But no one suggested going out of the way to help him change his mind.
Kohli had been short of runs in red-ball cricket. He had only averaged 30.7 in 39 Test matches played over a five-year span. The selection committee was mindful of that.
Still, according to another BCCI official, the “selectors would have picked Kohli for the England tour, if he had not decided to retire.”
There were signs that Indian cricket establishment picked up on last year; signs they had not seen before. It surprised them that Kohli opted out of an entire five-Test home series against England in early 2024 for personal reasons.
When the selectors wanted seniors like Kohli and Rohit Sharma to play the Duleep Trophy to warm up for a bunch of home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand, both did not respond positively. Gambhir was new to the job at the time, and did not push the senior players. Kohli averaged only 21 in those five home Tests.
In the Australia tour that followed, Kohli could not manage a fifty other than his hundred at Perth.
The batting star’s white-ball form was largely unaffected. He got runs in the Champions Trophy and in the ongoing IPL. But Test cricket was becoming increasingly difficult.
Kohli, now, was not the batter opposition feared. He was the senior, who was battling poor form, in a transitioning team. His teammates, who would once be automatic picks with him, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped. R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma had retired.
Besides, India had a new coach in Gambhir, with his own vision. Kohli and Gambhir’s past differences never came in the way when they worked together, but there was no special outreach to Kohli either.
Kohli may have been looking for an arm around the shoulder, when run scoring was becoming a battle.
“The one thing that came out from last summer for me was that aggression, which I’ve always loved about Virat, turned a bit to anger,” said former Australian captain Mark Taylor on Channel 9. “When I saw his run-in with young Sam Konstas, I thought that was a worrying sign when aggression becomes anger; it’s time to give it away.”
BCCI officials that HT spoke to refuted rumours that Kohli was unhappy about his alleged suggestion to step up as stop-gap captain in Australia being turned down.
“Test cricket is tough,” Kohli once told Sky Sports. “Are you ready for the hard grind? Are you ready to wake up on day three when things are absolutely stacked up against you? Are you strong enough to do that?”
Perhaps, the competitor in Kohli wasn’t finding the right answers. “If you told me I had to walk away from this game tomorrow, I can walk away without any regrets,” he had added in the same interview.
Now, Kohli has exited the scene. Hopefully, with no regrets.
