Retire Only When You Can’t Walk: Yograj Singh on Kohli, Rohit’s Test Retirement

The retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket have shocked the Indian cricket ecosystem, right from fans to ex-cricketers. Reactions have emerged, especially after Kohli’s retirement, where former players have asked him to reconsider retirement. 

Amidst all this, Yograj Singh, former India cricketer and father of Yuvraj Singh, also weighed in on the retirements of both the Indian legends and said that there is enough cricket left in both of them.

“Virat is a big player, so it will obviously be a loss,” Yograj told ANI. 

“When many players were either removed, retired, or coerced into retirement in 2011, the team fell apart and has still not stood back up. But everyone’s time comes. I feel a lot of cricket is still left in Virat and Rohit.”

Yograj added that cricketers should only retire when they can’t walk, and felt that no one would be left in the Indian team to motivate the youngsters after the retirement of Rohit and Kohli.

“I told Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) that it was not the right move when he was retiring. One should walk away from the field when one can no longer walk,” he added. 

“If you form a team full of youngsters, it will always fall apart. Maybe Virat feels that he has nothing more left to achieve. I think Rohit Sharma needed just one person to motivate him daily, for example, to go for a run at 5 AM.

“Rohit and Virender Sehwag are two people who retired too early… The greatest players should play till 50 years of age… I am sad about their retirement as no one is left to motivate the youngsters now.”