[Aakash118]

It took me a while to accept this. As a big fan of Virat Kohli, I was expecting a final golden period for him in red ball cricket. Even in the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy, he looked promising in almost every innings, but couldn’t get a big one after that first game. Will always miss his energy and dedication in this format.

I am also thinking about our playing XI going forward. I just hope that they don’t rush Pant to no. 4. He is one of those players who plays better when you leave him free and without expectations. Same is the case with Ravindra Jadeja. These two will surely do well at 6 & 7, but they should not be brought into the top five.

Jaiswal, Rahul & Gill are the obvious choices for top three as of now. Pant & RJ at 6 & 7. So selectors need to find two batsmen for 4 & 5 positions. Iyer, Paddikal, Reddy, Sarfaraz, Karun & Sudarshan are the names that come to my mind. Then, obviously, there is the experienced duo of Jinks & Pujara. Let’s see whom they pick. Waiting eagerly for this.

[mack.mehul]

It is time he retired from test cricket. In the last series in Australia, his performance was simply not upto the mark of an international test player who has played a 100 test matches. Getting out in same manner continuously outside the off stump in Australia and even at home, it was time for him to retire. His expertise is in ODI format and i think he should stick to playing that. Good decision taken by him and Rohit Sharma.

P.S.- I think like MSD, he will continue playing IPL till next 6-7 years.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

...Even in the recent BGT, he looked promising in almost every innings...

Wait what? Except for the century in 1st test, he went out in similar fashion every inning. Just that Rohit Sharma was way worse and hence more criticism was directed towards him compared to Kohli. Rest Kohli looked to be struggling in the series.

Having said that its not like we have some amazing set of players waiting in the dugout to fill the large shoes. It will be interesting to see how things move hereon for our test side.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by khanmaj

The game has always been bigger than any individual player. I don't believe viewership will be affected as long as India continues to play competitive cricket in the coming England series and avoid one-sided losses.

His form in the 2024–25 season was not impressive and his average dipped from the 50s into the 40s but these stats don't fully reflect the impact he's had on Indian cricket.

It all started with his removal from the Test captaincy. I don't think that was needed. Rohit was brought in despite not deserving the role or even a place in the Test eleven. Unfortunately, politics has been an enduring and inseparable part of Indian cricket from time to time.

Nevertheless, he has been instrumental in helping India find its voice, especially in SENA countries, where the team has learned to stand its ground and respond with equal intensity.

Well done Kohli! You've made the country proud

Mate! You don't have to put down someone else to highlight the greatness of another.

I know lot of people wont agree but since Rohit came back into tests as opener in 2019 till he retired he is the top scorer in tests for India. I know a lot of people would be surprised but during this period Rohit has 15% higher average and 12% higher strike rate than Kohli. Kohli is the second highest scorer.

Someone who as per you didn't even deserve a place in eleven has been the highest scorer for the same team. If we take out the dreaded run in the last 2 series the numbers improve for both of them but still Kohli is lagging as he has been worse than Rohit in last 6 years especially in tests. Mind you Kohli has just 4 centuries since Rohit became opener where as Rohit has double the number including a double century.

Overall captaincy record also has Rohit leading again with better W/L ratio, higher win% etc. with two ICC trophies to go with it. Comparing tests only Kohli obviously has a better record but with nothing to show for it. But we need to take into account that Rohit led in much lesser matches - almost 1/3 of Kohli and we don't know how he would have fared had he captained longer & may be earlier when he was younger. At least he has looked a lot better man manager than Kohli. Under Kohli the team never looked settled and players sort of were always under the pump.

Both are cricketing legends and contributed highly towards Indian cricket. One will be remembered as the one who bought the fitness culture and win first attitude(sometimes even ugly) and other as one who broke the ICC cup drought.
Who knows if these two continue and are somehow able to manage till 2027 WC Rohit may become the second Indian captain to win all ICC white ball tournaments just like Dhoni. Both these greats have supplemented/complemented each other well enough keeping their egos aside to bring laurels for the country. I rate Kohli better as hyper genius who did his own thing and inspired others whereas Rohit was clearly a better leader and had certain calmness which rubbed off the team. Rohit's test career took off way too late for him to be considered for captaincy earlier else he would have got better results as a captain.

Lets not put down any of these players. They all (including Kohli, Rohit , all past and present players) sacrifice so much and bring joy to all of us fans. And they all deserve respect for that.

We can all bring our analysis to prove one is better than the other and it will not take us anywhere. These are certified great of the game and they did the best they could have done. Lets enjoy and celebrate them.

[Aakash118]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Wait what? Except for the century in 1st test, he went out in similar fashion every inning.

I remember watching him 2-3 times playing 50-60 balls, without scoring much though. But overall he had a poor series, no two sides to that. Maybe the fan inside me got a bit too ambitious while typing that statement. I feel sorry for that.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

I am also thinking about our playing XI going forward.

Jaiswal
Sudarshan
KL Rahul
Gill
Jadeja
Pant
Reddy
Bumrah
Siraj
Shami
Arshdeep/Harshit Rana/Prasidh

The top 4 select themselves. Jadeja is very poor batting with the tail so he needs to be shifted up the order considering his decent defensive technique. Reddy has shown that he is capable of batting in the top 6 but there's no place for him there. If he doesn't get runs you can get in Jurel, Sarfaraz or Shreyas Iyer (if selected in the squad). Team needs 4 Seamers at any cost irrespective of losing batting depth! Shardul instead of IPL would have been better off with that County stint which he initially signed up for. Jadeja isn't going to get many wickets on English pitches & whatever wickets Reddy gets will be a bonus. Shami has lost a bit of nip & his fitness is a huge question mark. So you cannot possibly have a 2 & a bit bowlers in your setup as we found out in Australia. Also, none of Bumrah & Shami should play all 5 Tests.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by PPS

Jaiswal
Sudarshan
KL Rahul
Gill
Jadeja
Pant
Reddy
Bumrah
Siraj
Shami
Arshdeep/Harshit Rana/Prasidh

Quite a dilemma now for the Coach and selectors. I would rather look for an unorthodox line up (definitely not going to be possible)

Jaiswal
Sudarshan
Gill (C)
S Iyer
KL Rahul
R Pant (wk)
A Patel
N Reddy
B Kumar (highly unlikely)
M Shami
J Bhumrah

[AtheK]

This is the time to reward Karun Nair for his amazing run in Ranji, or else just scrap Ranji if you are not going to reward players for performing there.

Jaiswal
KL Rahul
Gill
Karun
Iyer
Pant
Jadeja
Reddy
Shami
Siraj
Bumrah

[Aakash118]

It may sound harsh but I don’t get the idea of having a batsman at 8 who can bowl a bit. Such a conservative call would had never been taken in Virat-Shastri era. If they see Reddy as a future prospect, they have to be bold enough to bat him at 4 or 5. For batting at 8, you need a bowling all rounder like Thakur or Chahar or even Bhuvi. My squad will be-
Jaiswal
Rahul
Gill
Reddy
Iyer/Rahane (both are smart captains and will assist Gill in English conditions)
Pant
Jadeja
Thakur
Arshdeep
Bumrah
Siraj
Reserves- Rahane/Iyer, Shami, Sundar, Sudarshan, Jurel, Harshit/Prasiddh, Kuldeep.

[Venkatesh]

India’s great batsman retires from Tests!

[khanmaj]

Originally Posted by nibedk

Mate! You don't have to put down someone else to highlight the greatness of another.

I know lot of people wont agree but since Rohit came back into tests as opener in 2019 till he retired he is the top scorer in tests for India. I know a lot of people would be surprised but during this period Rohit has 15% higher average and 12% higher strike rate than Kohli. Kohli is the second highest scorer.

Someone who as per you didn't even deserve a place in eleven has been the highest scorer for the same team. If we take out the dreaded run in the last 2 series the numbers improve for both of them but still Kohli is lagging as he has been worse than Rohit in last 6 years especially in tests. Mind you Kohli has just 4 centuries since Rohit became opener where as Rohit has double the number including a double century.

I was simply stating the fact and there was no intention to hurt anyone's feelings. If you have any statistics to support why he was appointed as Test captain, please feel free to share them. I’d genuinely be interested to hear that perspective.

Rohit’s Test match record speaks for itself. It seems there’s a tendency to conflate his achievements in limited-overs cricket with his performance in the Test format. There is no doubt that Rohit is a world-class player in white ball cricket. But, when it comes to Tests, his statistics indicate that he arguably shouldn't have been a regular in the playing XI, let alone being given the captaincy.

Even his record as a Test captain reflects this. He seemed to perform better under Kohli's captaincy

Rohit's statistics as captain -

[Eddy]

I am still coming to terms with the retirement.

Conditions in England have improved for batting. Anderson and Broad are not there. Kohli is in very good form. Maybe he would have done well there. I think he would have, but that could be a Kohli fan talking.

THANK YOU VIRAT! You were one of a kind, both as a cricketer and as a test captain.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by khanmaj

I was simply stating the fact and there was no intention to hurt anyone's feelings. If you have any statistics to support why he was appointed as Test captain, please feel free to share them. I’d genuinely be interested to hear that perspective.

Rohit’s Test match record speaks for itself. It seems there’s a tendency to conflate his achievements in limited-overs cricket with his performance in the Test format. There is no doubt that Rohit is a world-class player in white ball cricket. But, when it comes to Tests, his statistics indicate that he arguably shouldn't have been a regular in the playing XI, let alone being given the captaincy.

Even his record as a Test captain reflects this. He seemed to perform better under Kohli's captaincy

Rohit's statistics as captain -

May be you didn't get the context right. I am talking about Rohit stats since he became an opener that is in 2019.

Player I R B Outs Avg SR HS 4s 6s 50 100 Dots
1 RG Sharma 69 2,717 4,657 66 41.17 58.34 212 322 56 8 9 3,393
2 V Kohli 80 2,636 5,118 75 35.15 51.50 254 300 11 11 5 3,716

We all have to agree that whatever Rohit achieved is in a very short period of 4-5 years out of which close to 1.5 years wa slost to Covid. It just wasn't meant to be a long test career for him. His white ball stocks went through the roof when he became an opener in 2013 and his test career started around the same time as No.6 batsman. His test career fell by the wayside until he took up opening. Even after being a permanent in team he missed around 15 test matches to injuries.

As I said has things fallen in place for him in the test career he would have ended up lot better average, more matches and more runs.

Since he became the opener his average, strike rate and all has been better than Kohli and he has been the highest run getter for team India.

Stats do tell Virat has better record as a captain and I don't deny. Unfortunately for Rohit again his test career and captaincy coincided with his latter part of the career and hence a lot smaller sample.

Kohli for me is a great due to the impact he had on test cricket. As a batsman who played for 14 long years and 123 test matches his stats are nothing home to write about with an average of just 46.

For me they both go down as greats. Legends in white ball cricket - Rohit nudging ahead just that little bit due to his leadership returns (2 trophies to show). Kohli as a legend in test due to his impact and captaincy record on test cricket. As far as batting goes I would rate Sachin , Dravid , Sehwag, Gavaskar , Laxman higher than Kohli in tests. His record just doesn't match his legendary status. Seems pretty ordinary. Rohit contribution in test as batsman and captaincy is just about good. More a case of what it could have been had things fallen in place for him. But as a leader overall Rohit is ahead of Kohli.

[harry10]

It was the right time to retire for them. As per the various sources, BCCI conveyed to them that they won't be selected for the England series. So the gracious way to leave was to retire on their own own. Can't say I'm too happy with Gill as Test captain because Gill's average of 35 is quite low for a top order bat and being Captain means you can't be dropped. However, the second contender would be Rishabh Pant who is probably the best batter for Indian test team for past few years but as a captain, he's really terrible.

For once I admire bcci for taking the hard stance. Maybe Gambhir nudged it. For this fresh WTC cycle new guys who have hunger to prove themselves can be beneficial. Won't comment on team combination till the squad is announced. If our bowling core is fit to play then it's going to be a fun series.

Sunny G has spoken that he doesn't see both Rohit and Virat playing 2027 world cup. Don't know about Rohit but Virat certainly can with his fitness. However, just 27 odis before that. Retired from T20 and tests. Only ipl to play for 2 months. It will be hard to maintain fitness and stay motivated. Ideally they should play domestic competition like SMAT etc to stay in touch but then I don't see it happening.

We lost BGT after a decade. But the NZ series whitewash stings the most. Never thought it will happen in our lifetime. It will be odd not seeing Kohlis name in team list but we will get used to of it.

[Emvi]

How about bringing Karun Nair, Rahane, and Pujara back into the team for the England series? Nair definitely deserves a second chance more than anyone else. I would even toy with the idea of appointing Rahane as captain for a year, and then handing over the mantle to Gill, Pant, or someone else.