Our Bureau
Mumbai
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s departure from the Test format was something that many people didn’t see coming especially when the England tour was coming up. Ravi Shastri who was the head coach of India when Kohli held the reins has expressed his disappointment in how things were handled in his retirement.
Shastri believed that the star player had a lot of cricket left in him and the decision came very abruptly. He said that the cricketer deserved another chance and a proper send off for the contribution he has made to Indian test cricket and to world test cricket in general. Shastri said that if it was up to him he would have reinstated Kohli as the Indian captain after the abysmal defeat against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Shastri said, “When you go, that’s when people realise how big a player he was. I feel sad that he is gone, the way he is gone. I think it could have been handled better, there should have been more communication. If I had anything to do with it, I would have made him captain, straightaway after Australia.”
Virat Kohli’s decision to retire came just days before the squad for the England tour was announced. Many were taken aback by the sudden turn of events as everyone thought Kohli would continue playing in the red-ball format for a bit longer.
After the retirement of the two Indian stalwarts, this will be a new look Indian team with Shubman Gill as the new leader taking India forward and starting the new World Test Championship cycle against England from 20th June.
India’s squad for the England series – Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
