Exclusive | 'It's not going to be easy for someone to come in...': Sunil Gavaskar's big take on Virat Kohli's successor in Tests

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lavished praise on Virat Kohli as the batting great announced his retirement from Tests on May 12, 2025. Gavaskar believes that Kohli has had a colossal impact on the game, and it will not be easy to replace Kohli at No. 4. Kohli's retirement came just before the five-Test match series against England, which is scheduled to start from June 20.

In the exclusive conversation with Sports Tak, Gavaskar believes that India might need some time before finding someone suitable to bat in the spot that was dominated by Kohli and, before him, Sachin Tendulkar.

"Definitely. He has been a colossal presence. He is a colossus as far as run-scoring is concerned. In all formats of the game - not just Tests, but one-dayers and T20s too - he has been phenomenal. Since the time he made his debut, what he has done, what he has achieved for Indian cricket and what he has contributed to world cricket is unbelievable," Sunil Gavaskar told Sports tak.

"Those boots are massive to fill. It's not going to be easy for someone to come in and bat at that position. You could possibly see a couple of players coming in and going at that No. 4 spot. Just like after Tendulkar finished playing cricket, there were a couple of people who were not quite able to do justice to that position until Kohli came in and made it his own. So, maybe, we'll have to wait a little while for someone to come in and fill those boots," he added.

Kohli finished his Test career as the fourth-highest run-getter for India after Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265 runs) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs). He scored 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 centuries and 31 fifties in 210 innings and the best score of 254* in his 123 Test outings.

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Gavaskar also opened up on both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's lean patch during India's last Test assignment in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Where Kohli managed to score 190 runs in five Test outing,s and on the other hand, Rohit Sharma managed to score 321 runs in three Test outings. Gavaskar reckons that the chairman of the selection committee and the BCCI top brass would have discussed plans for the next cycle of the World Test Championship with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, influencing their decisions to retire before the England tour.

After losing against Australia, India failed to reach the final of the WTC for the first time in history.

"That's exactly what would have happened. There would have been discussions and conversations with them. They would have had talks with the selectors, chairman of selectors and senior board officials. That's why I said this was not a surprise, at least not to me.

"Definitely, there would have been conversations with both of them because the one thing nobody would have wanted to see was them being dropped from the team. Nobody would have wanted that.

"For both these wonderful cricketers to go out on their own terms is what everybody wanted. They have gone out after telling the world they have had enough," he said.

Sports Tak earlier reported that Shubman Gill will lead India in the upcoming five-Test match series against England and Rishabh Pant will be his deputy.