BCCI Forces Rohit Sharma To Retire In Tests!! Virat Kohli Takes Personal Call

With the start of the five-match Test series in England, the Indian team will be in transition under a new captain with the retirement of Rohit Sharma from Test cricket. The veteran, on the back of his poor outings in the last two series against New Zealand and Australia, decided to hang up his shoes.

Despite the news being shocking to a few fans, Rohit Sharma’s form and age factor didn’t make it surprising. But the bold news from the blue news came when a few reports stated that Virat Kohli reached out to the BCCI to inform his decision to retire from the red-ball format before the England trip.

BCCI forces Rohit Sharma for Tests before Virat Kohli takes a personal call

But a new report has leaked the detailed progress of the conversations that took place between all the involved parties, around Rohit’s retirement. The head of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, dropped the bomb on the Mumbai batter.

Also Read: Top 10 Cricketers To Score The Fastest 200 Runs In ODIs

The report from Dainik Jagran, as quoted by NDTV Sports, has highlighted that the board selectors had informed Rohit Sharma about axing him from the Test side in advance. They clarified to the experienced batter about their decision of not keeping the right-handed batter in their plans for the Test side.

However, when Kohli informed the same to the board, it was a shocking decision to them. They asked Virat to reconsider the situation before the high-intense England trip to start the fourth cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27.

However, they have not intervened much on the call, leaving it as a personal call for the Delhi batter. Both of their form have dipped in recent times, and that could be an extra burden on the decision.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Test struggles

At home, Rohit Sharma collected 91 runs in six innings at an average of 15 against New Zealand on surfaces that challenged his skill against the spinners. Out of those 91 runs, he celebrated a half-century during the second innings of the opening Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Kohli collected 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50, shouldering one fifty and was troubled by every Kiwi spinner, including Glenn Phillips, the part-timer.

Once they reached Australia for the BGT 2024-25, the pressure was on the Indian side to win the series and qualify for the third final of the WTC 2023-25 cycle. Kohli’s century at the Optus Stadium in Perth brought new life with the visitors’ victory, but that was a blue moon pleasure.

Also Read: Top 10 Batsmen With Most Runs In ODIs

He kept on repeating the same mistake and added only 91 runs in eight innings, apart from the century, at an average of just around 11. Rohit Sharma’s form was horrible, with the opener dropping him to the middle order and making 31 runs in five innings at 6.20.

BCCI to announce new Indian Test captain

Reports have revealed that Jasprit Bumrah, the premier Indian pacer, has been denied the chance to be the new Test captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. That leaves the board with two options of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill.

Rahul has led the side in the past, but his age may not be a vision for the future. Meanwhile, Gill could be a prospect for the side, but he has not cracked the red-ball code yet in the event. In Rohit Sharma’s absence from the top order, the selectors will also look at a few young opening batters for the England series.