Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary feels that the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli may end up announcing retirement after the conclusion of the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia. He stated that the two batters aren't being treated well by the team management and thus, may end end up retiring for good.
“Considering the contributions Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made to Indian cricket, being treated like this is extremely insulting. I genuinely feel both of them may announce their retirement soon, possibly after the Australia series. When someone is appointed captain, the goal is to win matches and series. Rohit Sharma was already delivering consistent results, and the team was performing well, so why was this change necessary?" Tiwary told Crictracker.
This statement comes after Rohit was recently stripped off the ODI captaincy and leadership du ties for the format were handed to Shubman Gill. This was quite a surprising move as Rohit had led the Men in Blue to the Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year in March, so it was expected that he would be the one to captain the team for the important Australia tour.
Tiwary on Kohli's Test retirement
Tiwary also commented on Kohli's Test retirement and claimed that the latter must have felt that the team doesn't need him and thus decided to step away with respect and self-dignity.
“When a player, regardless of his stature, feels that the team does not need him or that he is not respected, a person with self-respect and dignity cannot move forward. This is why Virat Kohli quietly stepped away from Test cricket—not out of frustration, but out of self-respect," Tiwary stated.
Meanwhile, the Australia ODI series will be both Rohit and Virat's first international assignment since the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand. The duo haven't donned the Indian jersey for months and are finally about to make their much-awaited return to the international stage with a series that will be highly important for both of them.
India's squad for Australia ODIs: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.