BCCI breaks silence on whether Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma were forced to retire from Tests: 'The decision was made...'

BCCI finally breaks silence on whether Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were forced to retire from Test cricket.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma - the two stalwarts of Indian cricket. No one expected them to call it quits in the longest format of the game before a last hurrah in England. Yes, the runs were hard to come by for both batters, who won Tests for India on numerous occasions, but one expected the senior pros to make one last trip to England to try and win a series and be a part of history. India have not won a series in the UK since 2007, and both Virat and Rohit came agonisingly close in 2021-2022, but the rescheduled Test ended in defeat for India at Edgbaston.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired in a gap of 5 days (AFP)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally broke its silence on Tuesday regarding whether the body forced Rohit and Kohli to retire from Tests. BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla ended the rumours once and for all, saying the decision to retire is a player's own and no one in the cricket body can force him to make this decision.

Rohit Sharma was the first one to retire from Tests. He posted a casual Instagram Story about calling it quits in the longest format. The right-handed batter, who turned 38 in April this year, represented India in 67 Tests, scoring 4301 runs at an average of 40.57.

Rohit endured a hard time in the home series against New Zealand and the away series against Australia. The run was so torrid that Rohit himself decided to stand down from the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia in Sydney.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement via a lengthy Instagram post. The batter said he gave it his all, but he feels the time has come to pass the baton over to the next generation. Kohli eventually called time on his Test career, having scored 9230 runs in 123 Tests with 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries.

Kohli scored a century in the series opener against Australia in Perth. However, the 36-year-old's performances dwindled after that as he kept chasing deliveries bowled outside off-stump. During the last Test in Sydney, Kohli even smashed his pad as he once again got caught in the slip cordon.

As soon as the duo confirmed their retirements before the England tour, rumour mills worked overtime. It was being speculated that the head coach Gautam Gambhir, chief selector Ajit Agarkar and the BCCI might have had something to do with their sudden retirements.

However, speaking to news agency ANI in London, Shukla denied all these claims, confirming that the senior batters will remain available for ODIs.

“I want to make it very clear once and for all. We are all feeling the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The decision to retire was made by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli on their own. It is the policy of BCCI that we never tell any player to retire. It was their call,” Shukla said.

“They have taken retirement on their own. We will always them. We will always consider them as legendary batters. It's very good for us that both of them are available for ODIs,” he added.

India doing reasonably well in England

A young Indian team led by Shubman Gill is doing well in England without the services of Virat, Rohit, and Ravichandran Ashwin. One expected the side not to pose a challenge in front of the Ben Stokes-led side, but to everyone's pleasant surprise, Gill and co are not going down without a fight.

India might be 1-2 down in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, but everyone knows that the visitors have dominated more sessions than England in the entire series.

The Lord's Test went down to the wire and in the end, England emerged victorious, having won the match by 22 runs despite a valiant effort from Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

India and England will now battle it out in the fourth Test in Manchester, beginning Wednesday, July 23.