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India star cricketer Virat Kohli made headlines when he recently announced his shock retirement from Test cricket. This came as a big surprise for the cricketing world as many expected the 36-year-old to play a major role in the Men in Blue's upcoming five-match Test series against England in June. However, Kohli instead ended up calling time on his Test career, leaving a massive void to be filled in India's Test side.
Manoj Tiwary wants Virat Kohli to rethink his decision
With speculations rising as to who will replace Kohli in the Men in Blue's Test set-up, former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has urged the star batter to take back his retirement and return to the team. Tiwary, who was formerly a teammate of Kohli in the national team, believes that the latter still has 'a lot of' cricket left in him.
"I felt a bit sad. In an era where T20 cricket is racing ahead, Kohli has kept Test cricket alive. He could have easily not given it the required importance. But he kept Test cricket as a priority always. We saw that in his captaincy, too. I'll ask him to close his eyes and take the retirement back as soon as possible. It'll bring back the happiness on the faces of all cricket fans. Even I did that. I took back retirement from first-class cricket after just five days and then played for Bengal, trying to win the Ranji Trophy," Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.
"Sometimes you face a time when a brain fade can happen and you make a decision. It's possible he had that too. There's a lot of cricket left in him. He was too close to 10,000 runs. Although it might not be important to him, a lot of young cricketers dream of making their name in Test cricket and reaching that milestone. He had a good chance. I don't know what happened or what went wrong that he made this decision," he added.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's abrupt retirements from Test cricket means that India will now be entering a brand new era in the format. The Test series against England which is set to commence from June 20 has now become more important than ever as not only does the team need a new captain, but also need the young guns to step up so that the void left by the two senior-most players of the team can be filled.
It is likely that new faces will be given chances in the upcoming Test assignment against England. This will be a golden opportunity for them to make their mark on the international stage and cement their place in the Test set-up through their performance across the five Tests.
It will also be interesting to see as to which player gets chosen as the successor of Rohit as India's next Test captain. Experienced players like Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah are among the favourites, but choosing one between them won't be an easy task for BCCI.
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